


Imperium

by jesuisbree



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Anger, Anger Management, Angry Kylo Ren, Attempted Murder, Brendol Hux's A+ Parenting, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Grand Admiral, Inappropriate dreams, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Lightsabers, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Issues, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Slow Burn, Starkiller Base, The First Order, The Force, Twins, Violence, fraternal twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-01 18:25:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13300665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesuisbree/pseuds/jesuisbree
Summary: Definition of imperium:supreme power or absolute dominion-control_______________________________________In all honesty, Kylo wasn’t sure what had happened—perhaps he’d seen a glimpse into what the Grand Admiral had wanted to do to the man, but then why had the Colonel reacted in such a manner if he hadn’t witnessed it too? There was something very odd about Grand Admiral Hux and Kylo Ren was determined to try and understand the woman.





	1. Control

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this plot brewing around in my brain since before seeing The Last Jedi and it just needed to be written. My intent is to pull from all aspects of Star Wars lore and maybe at my own flair to the mix, within reason. I'll try to update this at least once a week!
> 
> I'm my own proofreader/beta, so forgive any misspelling or grammar errors. Please let me know what you think!

_"...'please stop, you're scaring me.'_

_I can't help this awful energy._

_Goddamn right, you should be scared of me._

_Who is in **control**?"_

- _Control_ , Halsey

“Do you truly think the work you’ve presented to me is acceptable?” Cold, steely blue eyes flickered up from a data pad in a slender, black gloved grip. The subordinate, an assistant with no remarkable sort of ranking or pull of power in the First Order other than being supervisor to the group tasked with drawing up plans for a most important project, took one look at the black-and-white band around the arm of the only other individual in the small tender that was taking them from their ship of the _Absolution_ to the _Finalizer_ and swallowed hard. As emotionless as ever, the Grand Admiral was not to bait the lesser ranked official to providing the answer they wanted to hear.

“Yes, Grand Admiral Hux,” they replied, almost managing to sound sure of them-self. There was a slight quiver in their voice as they uttered the last vowel. This earned them a lifted brow from their Grand Admiral and the slightest pursing of their lips. The Grand Admiral’s gaze found the data pad once more, before putting the screen to sleep with the press of a button and resting it on their thighs.

“We shall see about that,” was the noncommittal reply and the assistant felt their insides go cold. The subordinate in the tender could see the Grand Admiral brush a hand over their blindingly red hair, not a strand of it out of place. While most officers, named or not, kept their uniforms in well order merely because they had to, it was apparent the Grand Admiral made it a point to keep theirs immaculate. They wore a thick-fabric, blinding white coat that was buttoned up to their throat; traveling clothes, no doubt. The subordinate did not know how long they would be on the _Finalizer_ , so they packed a set of clothes to last them for a week, since the _Absolution_ would not be lingering for the two of them to return. 

The plans that had been presented on the data pad would for the First Order’s new weapon and was to presented to the High Command and those of higher rank on the _Finalizer_. The judged efficacy of these plans was critical. The Grand Admiral could not fail the High Command and the High Command could not fail their Supreme Leader. The Grand Admiral of the First Order was known to be a shrewd leader, and was known to step in and do things them-self instead of relying on the shortcomings of others. They were highly critical, intelligent, but they were mostly known for their stoicism. When they broke the sharp serenity, however, it was said their anger could rival that of a certain Knight of Ren. 

The subordinate in the self-guided shuttle had no doubt the Grand Admiral had their own plans as backup, should the General, Kylo Ren, and the few others who made the large decisions amongst the First Order dislike the first presentation. They also had no doubt that they’d let the High Command know they were to fire the entirety of their design and engineering department should they fail all of them enough. If there was one thing the Grand Admiral did not weather, it was a weak link in the chain. 

The rest of their journey was quiet; the Grand Admiral gazing with an almost bored sort of look in their eyes out the window at the Star Destroyer they were going to be entering shortly. The subordinate lowered their eyes to the ground, going over the plans in their head so that if the Grand Admiral had any questions they would be able to answer them. When the familiar tug of a tractor beam guided them into the hangar bay, the subordinate steeled themselves. As they landed, the Grand Admiral stood, flattening their hands over the front of their jacket before turning to their subordinate with a lingering look. Wordlessly, the Grand Admiral was commanding the subordinate to follow. 

Within only a few moments, an airlock was opening and a gangplank descended with a soft hiss and thud that echoed within the hangar bay in which they had landed. The Grand Admiral appeared to check over their apparel one last time before making their way down the gangplank. The lights of the cargo bay reflected over dutifully-polished, black knee-high boots as the two stepped into what appeared to be a grand welcome. Stormtroopers flanked either side of the tender shuttle and the Grand Admiral stepped ahead of their assistant without any regard. Three figures stood just beyond the gangplank, it was clear the Grand Admiral’s attention was only on them.

The Grand Admiral and their subordinate struck a sharp salute as they stopped in front of the three individuals-two of them were masked, one was not. And as the red-headed General returned the salute with fervor, the chrome-Stormtrooper Captain mimicking him in perfect sync, it was apparent to all those in the hangar bay that the General and Grand Admiral must’ve been related. The General was a tall, slender man with sharp features and even sharper eyes. He made it a point to shroud himself in pristinely-pressed black uniforms, never seen without black gloves and not a bright red hair astray. The Grand Admiral, however, was a woman, as slight and as slender as the General, but with all the curves necessary to differ the two. Her features were similarly sharp, but were softer, rounder. To her chagrin, she was required to wear a uniform of blinding white(she much preferred darker colors), but she weathered it for the sake of status. They held the salute for a moment before they all fell at ease in perfect synchronization. 

To those who had never seen the two in the same room, to see the high-ranked Hux officials must have been a shock. Most just presumed the Grand Admiral to be General Hux’s father or brother. It had been ages since a woman held any high-rank, let alone one just below the General. Favoritism? To some, it appeared so. But the Hux siblings knew it was anything but. Both earned their rank, with no help from the ones around them, not even each other. It had been a clamor for the top rank, though they both knew why Supreme Leader Snoke chose the male over the female sibling.

“Grand Admiral Hux, good to see you doing well,” the male focused on the female intently, his Coruscanti accent clipped and precise.

“Same to you, General Hux,” the female spoke in a matching accent, as placid as ever. Where her sibling’s voice was clipped and slightly nasally, the tone with which she spoke was smooth and full. She offered him a moment or two of her attention before her gaze swung over to the two that stood beside the General.

“Captain Phasma, how glad I am to see you again. Master of the Knights of Ren, pleasure meeting you,” Grand Admiral Hux commented, though her tone made it seem as thought she was just attending formalities. When the General gave them a small wave toward the exit, they knew it was time for them to make their way to the conference room with which they would hold their meeting. It appeared they would be wasting no time.

The three high-ranked officers and Knight of Ren were given a wide berth as they made their way from the hangar bay, saluted and given the proper attention and respect as they passed through the hallways and corridors made of charcoal-colored sheets of metal and strips of white lighting. Salutes and titles were thrown around them, Stormtroopers and lower-ranked officials eager to prove themselves to the Grand Admiral that had never been seen aboard the [i]Finalizer[/i] but for a few times. The red-headed General and Grand Admiral fell in step, side-by-side, while the Knight of Ren and Captain fell in step behind them. Kylo Ren was watching the two of them raptly.

The two had gaits too similar to be a coincidence. There was a militaristic stiffness to their bodies, many years of practiced form and control behind their movements. Still, the two of them seemed too young to be as lettered as they were in politics and war, but the same could have been said of Kylo Ren, had more been known of the youthful face behind the weathered and dinged mask he wore. They were siblings undeniably now, but Kylo could tell they were twins, the girl only minutes older than General Hux. He could tell by the look in her eyes when she would turn her head completely to her brother to speak—despite him being her superior in the First Order, she was his superior by birth. They were talking quietly amongst each other, crisply-accented words flying quickly as they made their way to the secluded board room in the upper levels of the ship. The Supreme Leader had ordered plans to be drawn up to combat the Resistance and those who would not bend to the will of the First Order and Grand Admiral Hux had been tasked to draw up those plans.

_Calm. She was calm. So unbelievably calm._ Kylo Ren noted of the Grand Admiral. Even General Hux read fear, anger, and anxiety on the best of days. But the woman at his side was so…unfathomably calm. He found it very interesting indeed.

As they reached the conference room, the doors slid open and locked into position for them to enter when they so wished. Grand Admiral Hux stopped and turned, facing Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma. It was then the Knight of Ren got a good look at the female Hux’s features. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were blonde, giving her a startling sort of inhuman appearance. Her skin was smooth, blemish-less, and the color of snow. The only spots of color on her face were her lips—a pale pink, full and shapely—and her eyes— striking blue and wide. But her eyes were very much dead, providing no tells for the emotions that lay within the woman or thoughts running through her mind. Again, Kylo noted that perhaps he’d have to dig in more to who this woman was, maybe even try to probe her mind without being too forceful.

“Thank you for the welcome, Captain,” she spoke to the other woman with them, lips tilting up slightly at the corners, “I’m sure we’ll catch up later.” The Grand Admiral was formally dismissing the only one of them who wouldn’t be joining them in their meeting by saying this. The Captain inclined her head, Kylo catching the movement out of the corner of his eyes, before marching on down the corridor. As the Grand Admiral turned, her gaze locked onto the visor of of Kylo’s helm. And, for the briefest of moments and for the first time since he’d become Kylo Ren, he was certain she knew who he was without them having previously met. Her lips even managed to tilt upwards at the corners, the slightest hint of a smile, before dropping to the same neutral expression. Without another word, she turned and stepped into the room without another word. Kylo stared after her, more curious than ever as to who the Grand Admiral was. 

He, too, turned into the board room not too long after the woman. Kylo Ren had been aware that there was another Hux in the ranks of the First Order, but he had somewhat expected the other Hux to be as high-strung and as anxious as the General. Instead, the calm, perceptive woman was everything he didn’t expect. In fact, the woman seemed not to project or feel anything. She seemed void of emotion, unlike anything Kylo had ever come across. He knew the woman did not get where she was without being cutthroat, but the Grand Admiral seemed to be a dangerous sort that did not rely on how they felt to make decisions—or so it seemed to him. He’d have to see if she’d break and if he could get a peek at what she was truly feeling. 

There were a scarce few other high-ranked officials in the meeting, scattered around the large table meant for quite a few more than those gathered. General Hux took a spot at the end of the table and Grand Admiral Hux shrugged out of her jacket, passing it to a protocol droid within the room as they walked by. Data pad in hand, she slid a data disk into the table and tapped a few buttons located at a control panel on the side of the table as Kylo Ren finally took a seat. Aside from being the only woman in the room, she was dressed in blinding white, with shining gold epaulets—the only one in a light color. The front of her dutifully pressed uniform held four code cylinders and was belted at the waist with a black belt and shining silvery buckle, showing just how slender the woman was. Her vivid red hair was in a tight, polished bun at the nape of her neck. Her uniform trousers, however, fit her tighter than most uniform trousers, and looked like they had been made in a fabric that moved and breathed a little easier—this must’ve been altered at a personal request.

Her gaze traveled around the room for a moment, connecting with those around the table. One of those small, odd smiles curled her lips, eyes still very much dead as she placed the data pad to the side.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you in person and I hope that the meeting won’t keep you from your duties too long,” she said, clasping her hands behind her back as she drew up to her full height. She was tall for a woman, not quite as tall as General Hux, but as taller if not as tall as most men on board. “Some of you I’ve only had mere communication with over message, so allow me to formally introduce myself. I’m Grand Admiral Imogen Hux, I run operations on the _Absolution_.”

“Are you related to Commandant Hux?” Someone in the room asked, one of the older Colonel’s asked. The woman lifted a brow, turning her gaze to the man. The General visibly stiffened in his seat, turning to Colonel Kaplan, the man who had spoke, with a tense expression. Kylo then realized that the former Commandant Hux was a sour subject for both of the Hux’s in the room with him—one just happened to show it more than the other.

“Yes,” General Hux replied tightly, “as well as your current General.” Colonel Kaplan seemed to find the fact his Grand Admiral was not only a Hux, but a woman either an insult or comical.

“Will _he_ have to fight your battles for you? You couldn’t possible be skilled enough to lead men into battle.” The Colonel continued, nodding toward General Hux, and the tension in the room mounted even more. The General looked like he wanted to explode, tense spots of red rising to the apples of his cheeks, but was silenced by a glance from his twin. The Grand Admiral looked rather amused by this for a moment before taking slow calculated steps around the table they sat at. Her posture was relaxed. _Calm. So unfathomably calm,_ Kylo noted. The Grand Admiral stopped just beside Colonel Kaplan and stared at him for a few moments.

“No, I actually fight battles for _him_. I'm better at commanding the men and he's better at strategy, which is why he is General and I am Grand Admiral. We’re equals in theory—I oversee the First Order Navy, he oversees both Army and Navy— but I only take orders directly from him,” she told him, tone stalwart and steady, though there was a biting undercurrent to it. It was reminiscent of an alpha batting down a foolish cub. Slender, leather-gloved fingers plucked at the rank insignia band on his arm, eyeing it for a moment before her gaze flickered back up to his: a silent sizing up based on rank, Kylo assumed. Her’s had bands of red at the top and bottom where his did not—a symbol of her higher rank, if her uniform did not already speak volumes to it.

Kylo watched the exchange with rapt attention, hoping something would give a tell away for the Grand Admiral and who she was. He’d always been able to easily read the General and what he was feeling, but the Grand Admiral was like trying to read a sheet of metal. In what was a surprising move, he watched as the Grand Admiral lifted her gloved hand, placing her middle and index fingers against his forehead, curling her ring and pinky fingers back to mimic the barrel of a small, hand-held blaster. The Colonel’s expression went from cocky to frightened at an astounding rate, unsure of what was happening. The woman stared down at him for a few more moments, eyes as dead as ever. It was almost like the world around the three of them had faded into the background.

“ _Pow_ ,” she whispered, pulling her fingertips away from his forehead. The Colonel flinched. Kylo blinked and took a moment to study the room. No one seemed alarmed or like they were even aware of the threat the Grand Admiral had made toward the Colonel. He blinked a couple more times, brow furrowing as he noted her hand was not in the shape of a blaster anymore, but resting firmly on his shoulder. 

“You see, Colonel Kaplan, I’m used to insubordination of this kind. Question me or my capabilities as Grand Admiral again…and you will easily be replaced,” she told him, her voice dangerously low, but her point crystal clear as she gripped his shoulder just a hair harder before turning and stepping away from him calmly.

“D-Did any of you see what she just did?” The Colonel asked in a trembling voice, shooting a worried glance to those at the table. The Grand Admiral shot him a sidelong look, but continued walking and turned her gaze forward. Hushed murmurs broke out around the table and a few of the others shook their heads, staring at the Colonel as though he’d gone mad.

“That's enough, Colonel. Now, if you please, we’re not here for me to put you in your place, so I’d appreciate silence,” she said and with the last word the room hushed once more. Kylo let his gaze linger on the Colonel for a moment, watching as the man plunged two fingers beneath the collar of his uniform and tugged at it. The man swallowed hard, his dark gaze wandering over to Kylo for a moment, as if he were suddenly blaming the Knight of Ren for what had happened. In all honesty, Kylo wasn’t sure what had happened—perhaps he’d seen a glimpse into what the Grand Admiral had wanted to do to the man, but then why had the Colonel reacted in such a manner if he hadn’t witnessed it too? There was something very odd about Grand Admiral Hux and Kylo Ren was determined to try and understand the woman.

Grand Admiral Hux pressed a few buttons on the side of the table, bringing up a holoprojection in the center of the table as the lights in the room dimmed considerably.

“As you all know, I’ve been tasked with finding the First Order a suitable base of operations. Space is where our Navy excels, but the Army can only do but so much in dog fights and the like,” she started, eyes slipping sidelong to give General Hux a wry grin. “I thought I’d take things a step further than just a mere center of operations,” she spoke clearly, leaning over to tap a button twice to pull up a projection of a perfectly sphere planet. “I would be lying if I didn’t credit the Death Star with some inspiration for my plan. But…as we all know…the Death Star had critical flaws—weak points that were utilized by the Resistance in the weapon’s downfall.”

She reached into the projection, touching the sphere with her fingertips and brushed it slightly, sending it spinning. The planet was bisected by a deep recess that was carved through the middle of it. On one side, a large blaster of sorts was pointed directly out from the side of the planet, and on the other side, rows of propulsion jets. Without anyone but the Grand Admiral knowing the full power of what lay before them, it was clear this weapon should give them a great advantage over the Resistance.

“The Starkiller Base,” she said, eyes trailing over it for a moment before shooting a look around the room. “It will provide not only grounds for the First Order to dig it’s heels in as a planet-sized movable base of operations, but a weapon with the ability to wipe out entire star systems.”

___________________________________________________

Grand Admiral Hux had won over not only the approval of those higher ranked officials that had been at the meeting, but General Hux seemed pleased with what she had presented. Kylo Ren, however, had remained silent throughout her presentation. With all her talk of kyber crystal and quintessence, he wondered the depth of her knowledge of force-users and the dark side, as quintessence was a dark force that had yet to be successfully harnessed. A weapon with the ability to absorb the light from stars and use the energy for mass destruction was dark enough. While Supreme Leader Snoke would be happy with the plan, Kylo had no doubt of this, there was something about the woman that was setting him on edge. If the little display with the Colonel wasn’t enough, it was her whole calm demeanor and his inability to read her.

Their meeting for the day had adjourned, so he wasn’t sure where he’d find her, but he was determined to confront her and ask the burning questions he was unable to easily retrieve answers from her mind. The first place he figured he thought he’d try was General Hux’s office—they were siblings, surely they would be using free time to catch up as much as they could. 

Kylo was given a large radius to himself as the masked figure stalked down the dark metal corridors. Those who had seen the numbers he did on walls, panels, floors, and any other important pieces of machinery, figured it was best to give him wide clearance lest they catch him in an off mood. His boots hit the metal flooring softly and his cloak hissed along the floor behind him. As he approached the door to the General’s quarters, he paused just outside the door and focused on the room just past the steel barrier. Was this an invasion of privacy? Yes, but Kylo couldn’t help but feel there was something off about the Grand Admiral. Just because he was the General’s sister, didn’t mean him implicitly trusted her. In fact, the fact that she was devoid of emotion made him trust her less, made him believe she had something she had been taught how to hide. Two voices reached his ears as he strode past the door, hiding off around the corner so he wouldn’t be caught eavesdropping. 

_"-proud of you, Imogen. You’ve really outdone yourself. The Supreme Leader will be thoroughly pleased with your plan."_ General Hux was speaking now and Kylo could hear the sound of ice twinkling against a glass tumbler. Kylo could almost envision the two red-headed siblings celebrating success over a glass of whiskey. There was a long pause before the female replied.

_"Thank you, Armitage.”_

_"And how much of that plan actually came from those who work beneath you?”_ A low laugh left Grand Admiral Hux and Kylo was having a hard time imagining the woman wearing any sort of a pleasant expression.

_"Naturally…none of it.”_

_"You have subordinates for a reason, Imogen. What good are they if they aren’t being properly utilized?"_ There was another one of those long pauses and the sound of liquid and ice moving against glass.

_"There’s a benefit to only a few knowing of the plan. Should my research into planets with viable sources of kyber crystals fall into the wrong hands, it could prove catastrophic to the entire operation."_ Another pause. _"Let them continue to think they’re being of use and that the plans they drafted up are the ones that were approved. The fewer that hear of the true plan in it’s entirety…the better. There’s less chance of having the Resistance interfere that way."_

Nothing that had been said really struck Kylo as odd or anything that could cause concern. Her caution was smart and tactful, but the undertaking of all the work that must’ve gone into the Starkiller base plan must have been immense. Her dedication was respectable, but it still didn’t change the fact she seemed seriously suspicious to him.

_"How have you been, Imogen?"_ There was a certain undertone of concern in General Armitage Hux’s tone that Kylo hadn’t heard before. 

_"Well enough."_

_"Well enough? What kind of answer is that?"_ There was another one of those low laughs from the Grand Admiral and Kylo could only imagine the spots of angry color flashing across the General’s cheeks.

_"A vague answer intent on angering you. It seems to have worked."_ Within that statement, there was a sense of humor that Kylo hadn’t expected of Grand Admiral Imogen Hux. _”I’ve been well, Armitage, and it appears you have been the same. I’m glad to see you’ve done so well for yourself since becoming General.”_

_"The same could be said of you. The way you run the_ Absolution _is exemplary."_

Another one of those long silences lingered around the room and the sound of a glass being placed down on a surface and the sound of a chair sliding around the joins of metal plates on the floor.

_"One must try when they have a General that demands damn near perfection."_ This statement could be misconstrued as a bitter sort of comment, one said sweetly, but meant to cut down. However, when Kylo heard the General laugh, he knew it must have been taken lightly. _"I think I’ll turn in to my office for the night. I’ll finalize plans with you tomorrow."_ The sound of the rubber soles of boots striding across the floor reached Kylo and he drew himself up to his full height.

_"Will you be using the_ Finalizer _as your base of operations for the time being?"_ The footsteps stopped and Kylo listened in to what the Grand Admiral’s answer would be.

_”Yes. I figure you would want to oversee the preparations for the Starkiller base yourself and as closely as possible. You are part of the High Command, after all. I’ll transfer Colonel Kaplan to the_ Absolution _in my stead.”_

_"That is correct. I do wish to keep a close eye on the Starkiller base project."_ There was a moment of stillness in the room and Kylo could vividly see the siblings locked in a gaze before the General spoke again. _"About the Colonel, Grand Admiral-"_ There was an edge of authority in General Hux’s tone—all familial ties forgot. _"-I don’t know what you did, but an incident like the one that went on before your presentation…it cannot happen again."_

Silence lingered heavy in the room and Kylo barely took notice of four Stormtroopers marching past him in tight formation. He could only imagine the look that was being passed from the siblings—a battle for dominance, a butting of heads between two relatives. Grand Admiral Hux seemed nothing if not professional, so her answer came to a shock to Kylo…but it only incited his hesitance and distrust for the woman even more.

_"I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re talking about."_ The woman used such a flippant, knowingly ignorant tone with the General that he expected the man to explode at her in return. Instead, there was an audible sigh, as if this sort of reaction was commonplace for the woman, and the sound of boots making their way toward the door. Quietly, the doors hissed open and the woman in question left the room. Kylo would have liked nothing but to peek around the corner, to see if her expression would give away any of her emotions—since she wasn’t projecting any to him at the moment. In a stark contrast to his sister, Armitage Hux’s emotions were all over the place. There was his characteristic anger, but there was an equal amount of icy fear in the air—all of it directed at the woman who had just left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The person that inspired the look for Imogen Hux is [Judith Bedard](http://i.pinger.pl/pgr456/ee69a3a0000f0b9948ad5563).


	2. The Good Old Call

_"Can I practice for an hour, my favorite hobby on your head?_

_I just need your scalp, and one of your eyes in my hand."_

_"I know it isn't right, I know I hurt people_

_but I cannot resist, The Good Old Call."_

_-The Good Old Call_ , Carpenter Brut

Kylo kept as quiet as he could as he followed behind Grand Admiral Hux. He couldn’t actually see her, but he could hear her quick footsteps marching down the metallic corridors. Resorting to following stealthily behind someone felt odd to him. He typically just found the person by using the Force, but she has no signature of being whatsoever. It was almost like she didn’t even exist. Her “office” was one that had lay dormant until now, or so he deducted from the room her footsteps had lead her to. He paused just around the corner as she did in front of the door. There was a long lull before he heard her open the door slide open and her footsteps enter the room. Kylo lingered a little longer, hoping to make it seem like he hadn’t been following her. He knew he couldn’t use his typical brusque way of taking and asking what he wanted of who he wanted. For whatever reason, he knew the elder Hux was different. He didn’t know in what way she was different, but something—be in the Force or pure instinct—told him that she would not take kindly to blunt interrogation.

The Knight of Ren stared at the door that separated the corridor from the room as he strode to it, a few squadron leaders scuttling past him as he stepped forward. Without wasting another moment, he pressed the call button by the door, at least affording her the opportunity to turn him away. There wasn’t even the slightest bit of a pause before the woman called through the barrier, _“You may enter.”_ So, she hadn’t locked the door behind her. Kylo pressed the button to open the door to find her standing with her back to the door, hands clasped dutifully behind her as she stood in front the large viewport in her temporary office. Against the black, pressing emptiness that surrounded them and the Resurgent-class battlecruiser they were on, her stark white uniform seemed to glow with the dim, blue-white lights that lined either side of the room. He stepped just barely into her office and allowed the door to slip shut behind him with a soft hiss and click.

Grand Admiral Hux turned and faced Kylo Ren, squaring her shoulders toward him and keeping her gloved hands clasped behind her back. Her face was as emotionless as ever and there was no spike in her emotions that Kylo could tell. She was ever the same as she had been since she’d stepped off the small shuttle. _Calm. So, so calm._ Her head tilted to the side slightly and a small smile of mere formality crossed her features as she stared in the black visor of the mask he wore.

“Master of the Knights of Ren,” she spoke, voice quiet, nigh lofty as she addressed him in the most regal of manners. “I was hoping you would stop by. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“And I’ve heard not enough about you,” he said before he could bite his tongue, voice low and crackled through the modulator of his mask. The blank stare she wore failed to break with his words as she stared at him for a few moments. She shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant sort of gesture, looking away from him for a moment as she took a step away from the viewport to draw nearer to a polished black desk in the room.

“I suppose that’s partially my fault. I prefer running things from the _Absolution_ and haven’t ventured far from it without good reason,” she spoke, voice even and controlled. _Calm._ Kylo was beginning to despise the word, but it was the only one he could think to describe her with.

“The Starkiller base project is good enough reason to leave?” He questioned, posture characteristically rigid.

“Right now, it’s the only reason for me to leave. I don’t particularly like to place as fine a ship as the _Absolution_ in someone else’s charge for too long.” A fair enough answer, Kylo surmised. The Hux siblings were the epitome of control; though the Grand Admiral seemed to possess a great deal more of it than the General did, at least over her emotions. There was a long pause between the two of them and the Grand Admiral took slow steps toward her desk. “Please, have a seat,” she spoke, gesturing with a graceful, outstretched hand toward the chair that sat opposite of the one she stopped behind. Kylo took slow steps forward, eyeing the woman from behind his mask, as if at any moment she would charge at him and reveal some true, untold nature. Instead, she clasped her hands behind her back once more, watching intently as he lowered himself down into the polished black chair to match the desk. “Could I fetch you a drink? Some food, perhaps?” She offered, to which she was met with silence. Again, she tilted her head, soulless eyes studying the shadowy being before her, gaze flittering briefly across the hilt of his lightsaber at his belt. 

Her gaze met his—or the visor of his mask—as she took a seat across from him. There was that feeling again, like she knew exactly who he was and what he looked like, coupled with the sensation of the skin at the back of his neck prickling. The Grand Admiral pulled off her gloves with a propriety that Kylo likened to high born women who were nothing but manners, manners, manners. She placed the gloves neatly on top of one another and slid them to the side, clasping her pale hands atop the lacquered metal desktop. Just like her brother, it appeared she’d been brought up to revere a certain amount of aplomb; a prim and proper body language that silently communicated her rank and status in life. 

The two remained silent, neither of them moving visibly, other than Grand Admiral Hux’s occasional blinking and the rise and fall of their chests as they breathed in the crisp, dry air of the _Finalizer_. It seemed, to Kylo, that they were both trying to suss the other out, to read what would seem illegible. This went on for longer than would have been comfortable to anyone less focused than the two in the room, but it appeared the two perceptive beings paid no mind to the silence.

“So, speaking of the Starkiller base project,” the Grand Admiral finally spoke, breaking the silence between them, “I would like to hear what your thoughts of it were, if you had any at all. You were rather quiet after my presentation.” Kylo’s gaze narrowed behind the visor at the woman. Part of the reason he was so quiet because of whatever had happened with Colonel Kaplan. Had she weaseled into his mind and shown him it or did she block it from the others being able to see it? The Force seemed non-existent within the woman, like so many other things, so there was no way she could plant such things into the minds of mere humans, let alone another Force-user like him. Kylo straightened his back in the chair, clenched hands resting on the tops of his thighs.

“Where did you learn so much of kyber crystals?” He asked, his modulated voice quiet. Her lips pursed for a moment, almost as if she had a bitter taste in her mouth.

“The former Commandant Hux was obsessed with the Jedi.” She paused for a moment, whether to gather her own thoughts or see if the work ‘Jedi’ garnered any sort of reaction from the Knight of Ren, he’d never know. “The man left tomes of information scattered around the house in my youth. I’ll admit, I read the first book out of sheer boredom, but I found the Jedi were…fascinating, to say the least.” Kylo merely continued to stare at her, not sure if the word ‘fascinating’ was the correct term for the Jedi Order. He also took note of the lack of referring to the former Commandant as her father. “The ‘Commandant’s Cadets’ were modeled after the way the Jedi trained padawans and eventually became the model for the First Order’s training program: help those with potential rise to it and instill ideals into them young so it becomes second nature when they are older.”

The Grand Admiral drew in a deep breath of air, shifting herself back into her seat, but keeping her hands put on the table. Her gaze wandered over Kylo’s helmet once more before she continued. “I was always more fascinated by their weapons more than anything; a lightsaber is just pieces of metal and circuitry without a kyber crystal and without proper skill, it’ll never work correctly, even when complete,” she said, eyes flickering down to the lightsaber hilt at Kylo Ren’s side. He remained still, unshifting under her gaze. His lightsaber was known for its unusual beam, the crackling electricity that buzzed rather than hummed and the cross guard vents. Whether or not she was critiquing him, since many said the circuitry or kyber crystal of it was faulty and volatile, Kylo would let it pass. She was well read, especially if she managed to plan to take a planet full of kyber and turn it into the First Order’s greatest weapon to date. 

“In my opinion, the Resistance will always flounder against the First Order,” she spoke plainly and bluntly, eyes staring endlessly into the visor of the shadowy being before her. “The only way for them to achieve any sort of lasting victory over us would be if they somehow managed to gather the only Jedi who I know of, who may or may not be dead, have him raise an army, and turn them against us.”

“The Jedi are dead,” Kylo spoke before thinking again; his words crisp, clear, and as emotionless as the woman who sat across from him.

“I never said they weren’t,” Grand Admiral Hux replied just as quickly and sharply, pale blonde brows shifting upwards slightly as she canted her head slightly to the side for a moment. Kylo stared hard at the woman—he couldn’t read her and, though part of him was tempted to take a peek, to force his way in without hesitation, into her mind, he knew better. She was a high ranking First Order official, and outside of just being impossible to read, he really had no reason to question her loyalties. Perhaps she was just as serpentine and conniving as most high-ranked officials were—most of them all had something to hide and someone they used as a step-stool in their struggle to come out on top, to rule over something. 

“We can at least ensue they can never arm themselves again, should an unlikely rising of Jedi occur, by using kyber as a First Order weapon against them and whoever else stands in our way.”

“So, you weaponize a planet for one military-a planet that has the capability of arming another?” Kylo questioned. It felt odd having to converse in such a manner, to speak with someone who gave him no tells if they were lying, telling the truth, afraid, or confident.

“Precisely,” was the single word answer he was given as the slightest bit of a crooked grin curled her features. The Knight of Ren studied her at length at this admission as she sat, near motionlessly across from him.

“An impressive plan for a single mind to draw up,” he stated, though the compliment was lost in his monotone delivery. The Grand Admiral merely stared back at him, unwavering as ever. “And your knowledge of quintessence; where does that come from?”

“My studies of the Jedi led me to the Sith, naturally. For all he knew of the light side, Commandant Hux was a fool for never exploring the Sith and their training,” she said, lips pursing together again, as if she were trying to hide a sneer from her features.

“You did not think highly of your father?” Kylo asked, more a statement than a question. Grand Admiral Hux’s jaw clenched, rounded bone pressing out against pale skin with the gesture, and her nostrils flared slightly.

“I did not,” she replied tightly. Kylo had clearly struck a nerve with her. Seeing a reaction from someone who had been so stoic until this point pleased him. It appeared the Hux siblings had parental issues that rivaled his own. She drew in a deep breath of air, as if steeling herself to speak again. “I will be open with you, Knight of Ren, to any questions you may pose about my extent of knowledge on the Jedi, Sith, kyber crystals, and anything else that concerns you. I do not wish to discuss Commandant Hux any further than his brief and detached involvement in my education.” There was an edge of warning in her tone, a flicker of wrath in her icy blue gaze, but she surprisingly maintained that calm presence.

Kylo couldn’t help but to try and press the subject a bit further; her calm, bordering on icy exterior was cracking and he wanted to see if her emotions would crack as well. It was his turn to tilt his head to the side, ready to try and provoke the woman before him.

“Was what he did to you or General Hux so horrific that you feel he’s not worthy of being called father?” He asked, his tone tauntingly soft and curious. Grand Admiral Hux drew in a deep breath of air, jaw jumping slightly as she worked her teeth together. Her icy gaze bore into his as she shifted a bit in her seat. For a moment, Kylo swore he could tasted her anger, her fury like embers against his tongue, smell the smolder of cinders in the air, but it was gone in an instant. It had vanished so quickly, that he entertained the idea that perhaps he’d imagined he could sense her anger, just to feel like he’d gained something from inciting her anger. The woman remained quiet, visibly and slowly reeling her anger back so that she wore the same placid expression as before. A few long moments passed and the room remained silent.

“You know I can take the answer from you…if I wanted to,” Kylo Ren continued in a matter-of-fact sort of tone, keeping his gaze set on her. Grand Admiral Hux blinked a few times, eyes shifting over the being in front of her.

“Then do it,” she told him, voice oddly soft for such an instigative phrase. Kylo stiffened slightly, leaning forward in his seat. “You’re above my rank,” she spoke plainly, unblinking gaze set on his. “You’re _above_ rank, altogether.” Kylo’s eyes narrowed slightly behind his visor. “If you think the answer you’ll find will be pertinent—for whatever reason you may have—take it,” she continued, her hands unclasping themselves and flattening out onto the polished desktop as she leaned forward. She kept her gaze unfalteringly so on his and her actions gave Kylo pause. “I serve the First Order and the Supreme Leader, which means I also serve you.”

Was she trying to challenge him or was she submitting to him? He grit his teeth together, suddenly finding himself inexplicably frustrated at the woman in front of him. The whole purpose of confronting her had been to try and figure her out, but she was just confusing him even more. The normal reaction to the threat of having Kylo rip thoughts, fears, and memories from someone’s mind was typically begging, pleading, and the like. No one had ever willingly offered for him to take the information he wanted. Still, everything in her posture said she was challenging him; her rigid spine, her pale hands pressed against the desk top, and her unfaltering stare. The woman and her lack of readable emotion made the Knight of Ren angry, angry enough that he was seriously considering her offer.

In a flash, he had his hand lifted and reached across the table to hover just in front of her, glove fingers clawed slightly as he prepared himself to use the Force to enter her mind and to find out exactly why she hated her father so much. The Grand Admiral never flinched or shied away at the palm that faced her; she didn’t even blink as her gaze remained locked onto the visor of his helmet. Her steady reaction was enough to give him pause, to have him reconsidering himself. Was his childish whim really worth it all?

“You would bravely…or foolishly, let me into your mind?” He questioned, the crackle of his voice modulator cutting the near silence of the room. “It’s painful, you know.” His hand was still outstretched toward her, tendrils of his power at the ready to invade her memories. Grand Admiral Hux’s gaze merely slid from his visor, to his outstretched hand, then back to the void of color where his eyes should be.

“I have nothing to hide,” she replied simply and softly. “If you are that keen on figuring out why Commandant Hux is so disliked by my brother and I, I’d rather you take it from me that have to speak of him out loud.” Her voice was quiet, but low. Her upper lip looked like it was on the verge of a similar snarl to the one General Hux’s would take from time to time, but other than that, the woman was still so placid.

“And the pain?” Kylo pressed, losing his resolve as she spoke toward actually entering her mind. His reasoning had been juvenile—a mere knee-jerk reaction to having the woman outright refuse what he wanted—and it would have been a waste of time and effort. If the woman were to allow him into her thoughts, fears, and memories, he’d be better off utilizing his energy on figuring out the reason as to why the woman was void of all emotion most of the time. When she finally spoke, Kylo was slightly shocked at the answer and the delivery of it through gritted teeth.

“It would be worth it to never have to speak about that man again,” she replied without missing a beat. So, it appeared she hated her father _that_ much, Kylo realized. Without much resolve left, he let his hand drop, clenched fist resting on the top of his thigh once more as he shifted to relax back into his chair.

The woman’s brow lifted slightly as she glanced to his hand before mimicking his actions, back resting against the chair once more and hands clasping themselves together. Her office grew still and quiet once more as the two individuals kept their gazes and attention locked on the other.

“Was there any other purpose to your visit, Master of the Knights of Ren?” She questioned quietly, head tilting to the side slightly and tension slowly dissolving around the two of them. Kylo watched her for a few moments, gaze searching desperately for a weak spot in this woman’s armor. When he realized that his search would come back empty handed and he would leave the room with more questions than answers, he shook his head.

“No, that is all I wished to speak to you about.” Just as he was about to stand up from his seat, the Grand Admiral was speaking, standing up and leaning over the desk slightly as she pressed her palms against the cool, polished surface once more. Kylo recognized her stance as one of dominance, and it felt very much like the stance she took when speaking with Colonel Kaplan.

“You implicitly have my trust, Knight of Ren, which is not something that I give out freely, in most cases. The Supreme Leader trusts you…and so shall I,” she started, frigid blue gaze locked on his, face as emotionless as ever. She leaned in a bit more, mouth tensing for the moment before relaxing. Kylo knew that he would not like whatever the woman had to say next, especially not with the stance the woman had taken. “But imagine what your reaction would be if someone entered your office…or personal area and decided to relentlessly question you about your family, even after you indication your distaste for the direction of the conversation.” Kylo clenched his fists hard, teeth clamped together tightly. 

Again, he had this sinking feeling that this woman knew who he was and who his family used to be. There was a pause as the woman glanced over him, eyes lingering on the lightsaber at his side before speaking. Her voice was low again, the threat evident in her tone. “I will not be as patient with you next time you decide to repeatedly poke at my history, Knight of Ren.” She was scolding him, much like a superior scolds and inferior, a parent scolds a child, and he felt anger quickly coming to a boil within him. He was no child and he certainly wasn't her inferior. “I can be a great asset to your cause and someone you can count on to deliver results above and beyond expectations. But you do not want me to dislike you, believe me.”

Before she had a chance to say anything else, he was out of his chair—Grand Admiral Hux drawing herself to her full height as he moved—and was taking long, heavy-footed strides to the door. Without another word, he opened the door with the push of a button and took no glance back as he exited the room. His hand quickly found the hilt of his lightsaber at his side and detached it from it’s place on his belt.

Grand Admiral Hux could hear the weapon screech to life as the door to her office slid shut, quick stomping footsteps leading the apprentice of the Supreme Leader away from her temporary working quarters. The woman could not hear as Kylo Ren turned into a electrical and communications hub on their floor and rip into the circuitry in his anger. Though, when she saw the lights in her room flicker and dim for a moment, a vindictive little grin curled her lips before she took her place at the viewport once more.


	3. Rebuild and Suppress

_"You're working so hard_  
_And you're never in charge_  
_Your death creates success_  
_**Rebuild and suppress**_

_Change in the air  
And they'll hide everywhere  
And no one knows who's in control."_

- _Ruled by Secrecy_ , Muse

When Imogen Hux’s chronometer went off early the next morning, she was ready to face the day. It was long before the standard call time, but the Grand Admiral preferred to get a head start to oversee the Stormtroopers morning formation and sparring practices. Captain Cardinal kept a tight rein on those he oversaw on the _Absolution_ , and Grand Admiral Hux had no doubt that Captain Phasma did not do the same. They kept a uniform protocol amongst all of their Stormtrooper regiments, but the Grand Admiral was interested in seeing the potential amongst some of the ranked Stormtroopers. After all, she only technically oversaw half of the First Order operations with their squadrons and Naval power, but that did not mean she was not concerned with their Army.

As she took her first meal, a protocol droid was busy ironing her uniform, making sure it was nothing but immaculate before she started her day. Quiet music was playing in the room, something old from the Imperial Symphony Orchestra, as the Grand Admiral overlooked a few documents on her datapad whilst taking small bites of her meal and drinking a steaming, dark brown liquid. Her personal quarters were not too far from her office, on the same floor but a few corridors down. General Hux’s quarters were just a few doors away and she figured the only reason for their proximity was not for familial reasons, but because of their rank. She was surprised they got the power up and running in her room by the time she went to bed. Ren had done a number on a few electrical and comm junction boxes and her room had been offline for hours as a cause. Whether or not he knew he was cutting the power to her room was up for debate, but she’d wager he’d known exactly what he was doing when he took his lightsaber to anything in his path.

Once the woman was done with her morning routine, she dressed and pulled her hair back into a polished bun; hair slicked down to her head, striking red and shining. Today she opted to wear her white command cap, as she would be making the rounds about the _Finalizer_ and wanted to appear her best. General Hux wouldn’t have her appearing any other way. If there was anything her brother prized, it was decorum. For the Grand Admiral, however, she did appreciate the appearance of a clean-cut crew, but the functionality of uniforms and the people wearing them meant more to her. Hence why she asked for tighter fitting uniform trousers as oppose to the loose, flared breeches. With one last look in the mirror, to make sure her appearance was immaculate, she grabbed her datapad from the table and left her room. 

The hallways of the battlecruiser were near silent in the “early morning” hours. It’d been so long since Imogen had been on land that she couldn’t really remember the last time she’d seen the sun crest over a horizon to light a planet. Thankfully, the layout of the Resurgent-class ships were fairly similar, and the Grand Admiral made her way to the expansive training room for the stormtroopers without a hitch. The room was plain, all dark durasteel and white lighting, spare the large posters of propaganda and now-empty weapon racks that lined the walls. She stood at the front of the room, drawing in a deep breath of air before looking down at the datapad in her hands. As her gaze was roaming over the next steps she had to take in her Starkiller base project, she heard the doors open beside her.

Immediately, she locked the screen of her datapad and glanced over at the portal to the room. The only chromium stormtrooper stood to the side of her and Grand Admiral Hux couldn’t help but to smile warmly over at Captain Phasma. The two had rose amongst the ranks together; Phasma’s brute strength and fighting skills dictated where she held domain and Imogen’s shrewd, calculating mind and knack for being the top pilot in her class led her to where she was. As much as the Grand Admiral liked Captain Cardinal, she couldn’t help but to wonder what untapped potential lay between the two of them, with Imogen in charge of the Navy and Phasma overseeing the Army. Perhaps the Grand Admiral could put in a word for the Captains to switch ships.

“Grand Admiral Hux,” Phasma started, helmet turned to studied the woman as her respirator crackled around the other woman’s voice, “I should have expected you to be here this early.” The Grand Admiral’s eyes lit up for a moment as the woman came to a stop just beside her. It appeared that Imogen Hux was quite choosy over who she showed emotion to. Slipping her datapad into the breast pocket of her high-necked, white tunic, she paused a beat before replying.

“I’m nothing if not punctual, Phasma.” 

“My infantries won’t be expecting you,” the Captain said, to which Grand Admiral Hux merely shrugged and offered the other woman a crooked grin.

“I’m sure you always keep your infantries in impeccable form, Phasma,” the woman in white replied. She didn’t receive a reply, but could imagine Phasma grinning beneath her helmet. “Besides, I merely intend on observing. Stormtroopers fall under General Hux’s ultimate charge, not mine.” There was no time for a reply, as the morning wake-up call resounded through the ship. For a moment, the Grand Admiral turned her gaze skyward, toward the speakers that lined the spacious practice room they were in. The moment the alarm paused there was a pause before the voice of General Hux resonated throughout the room.

_“Men and women of the First Order, it is your responsibility to keep the spirit of the Empire alive and to keep our Imperial values protected from those who wish to see them decimated. Each day is an opportunity to destroy the Resistance and ensure the survival of the First Order.”_

Grand Admiral Hux remained silent for some time, eyes trained on the speaker before turning to Captain Phasma. This meant they had a few minutes before the Stormtroopers of the _Finalizer_ would file into the room and get into formation before them.

“It’s a shame we don’t have more time. I would have rather liked to spar with you. See if you’ve kept up your training,” Captain Phasma said and Grand Admiral Hux nodded in agreement. 

“Perhaps we can make time later. While I’m sure I’m not what I once was, I take pride in knowing if I ever had to fight on land, I wouldn’t be _completely_ useless,” Grand Admiral Hux spoke. 

Promptly fifteen minutes from the morning wake-up call went off and the first broadcast was made for the day, the Stormtroopers filed into the room. Uniformly, they organized themselves into the units with the ranked stormtroopers positioned at the front right-most spot within the formations. While Grand Admiral Hux did not normally oversee the stormtroopers daily routine, she was impressed with the efficacy of this group, though she knew better than to expect anything less from Captain Phasma.

Once the movement in the room ceased, Captain Phasma stepped forward, shoulders squared with the room, to address the group. “As I’m sure you have all noticed, we have an important guest joining us today,” she said, respirator-muffled voice resounding strongly throughout the room. “I expect nothing but the best from all of you.” There was a lengthy pause and the Grand Admiral watched as Captain Phasma surveyed the room. Finally, the chromium-cloaked Captain turned to the Grand Admiral. “Is there anything you wish to say before we begin?” She asked quietly. The other woman shifted her gaze from the countless lines of shining, white-armored stormtroopers to the Captain and giving her a short nod. The Grand Admiral stepped forward, turning her bright, yet lifeless gaze toward the trained warriors in the room.

“I feel privileged to be able to oversee your training this morning. And while I don’t mean to pressure you all or cause any undue anxiety, I stand with the Captain when I say I expect no less than excellence from all of you,” she said, voice ringing clear amongst them. She stood calmly, gloved hands clasped behind her back as her gaze roamed the room. “To echo what our General broadcast this morning, you all play such a critical part in ensuring the survival of the First Order, _our_ First Order. There is no room for any weak link or anyone who will not serve the First Order wholeheartedly.” She paused for a moment, drawing in a deep breath of air. Her eyes flickered around the room, as if she would be able to tell by sight alone who the weaker soldiers were. “That having been said, if it makes you feel better, pretend this is just a normal day of operations and that I'm not here.” The Grand Admiral turned to Captain Phasma and gave the taller woman another nod, indicating the morning training could commence. 

For being as early as it was, it seemed the stormtroopers were conditioned enough to not allow bleary eyes or fatigue, if they were feeling any, show. The Grand Admiral took her time to walk amongst the ranks, watching with her blank expression and dead eyes as she observed their blaster target practice. Durasteel targets were lined up in uniform order, in the rows where there was a space in between to walk behind the back of the stormtroopers that were firing. The woman paused a moment by one of them, her sharp gaze locked on the blaster in the hands of the stormtrooper.

“Your identification, please,” she called over the sounds of the blasters being fired off sporadically. This particular stormtrooper paused, helmet shifting as they looked over at the Grand Admiral and lowered their blaster, immediately standing at attention.

“FN-2187,” the trooper replied, a slight edge of hesitance in his voice—as the Grand Admiral realized she was speaking to a male—at being singled out by this high-ranked official. The Grand Admiral hummed softly, head tilted to the side, hands clasped behind her back and posture straight. The woman drew in a deep breath of air before calling, loud enough to be heard over the plasma beams sinking into the durasteel targets. 

“Cease your fire, all of you.” Obviously, the ones closest to her stopped first before the ones furthest away realized what exactly was happening. Her gaze drilled into the stormtrooper at her side for a few moments.

“Your blaster is set to ‘stun’. Why?” The Grand Admiral questioned, voice loud enough for the entire room to hear. FN-2187 glanced down to the settings dial on his blaster before refocusing his attention on the woman.

“I…guess I forgot to change it, Grand Admiral,” he replied. The Grand Admiral pursed her lips for a moment, looking as though she were trying to restrain herself from doing or saying something. Her bright blue eyes were alight, an uncommon occurrence for the stoic official. 

“I thank you for your honesty, FN-2187,” she said, her tone hollow and cold. Her eyes bored into the visor of his helmet, jaw clenching for a moment before she continued. “However, an ignorant mistake such as this can cost you your life. Do you value your life, FN-2187?”

“Yes, Grand Admiral Hux.”

“And do you think the Resistance will have their blasters to stun, should you face them in battle?”

“No, Grand Admiral Hux.”

The woman’s gaze darted over the trooper, posture rigid. It was clear she was not set on humiliating FN-2187, but stressing the importance of being aware of equipment and making such a fatal mistake as failing to set a blaster from ‘stun’ to ‘kill’. She stepped away from FN-2187 and the stormtroopers around her stood up at attention. She began to slowly walk through the aisle of troopers. “All of you, believe me when I say that the Resistance will not hesitate in killing you before you kill them. They will take one look at your armor, know you are against them, and fire with the intentions of ending you, no questions asked. Because you serve the First Order, they will not take pity on you. They will not spare you from death, however quick they wish to deliver it,” she said, speaking to the entirety of the room now. “Unless you are otherwise instructed, your blaster should always be at it’s highest setting. One can never know what will happen over the course of a day and it would be a great injustice to the First Order to not be ready for the unexpected.” She paused beside Captain Phasma, eyes roaming the room once more. “You may all return to your practice.” 

She waited until the room was filled with blaster fire once more before turning to Captain Phasma and speaking in a quiet tone. “Send FN-2187 to reconditioning for the rest of the day.” She glanced over to the trooper in question, shaking her head. “Forgetting to set his blaster to kill is unforgivable,” she murmured lowly, pursing her lips in distaste. With that last word, she strode past Phasma without a glance back as the chromed-trooper marched her way over to the stormtrooper in question.

___________________________________________________

Kylo Ren had spent the majority of his morning in meditation, trying to pull any Force traces he could from the melted helmet of his grandfather for any indication on where his path would lead him, and briefly speaking with Supreme Leader Snoke. He updated his master upon the plans that Grand Admiral Hux had presented; the weaponizing of a planet to obliterate star systems. While the Supreme Leader seemed impressed, he stated he believed General Hux to hold the information on finer details of the plan and who withhold judgement until he gathered the two of them and speak in more depth about the plan.

Before the Supreme Leader ending the transmission of his projection, he noted to Kylo that something seemed off about him, as though something was troubling him. The master of the Knights of Ren had no doubts the Supreme Leader knew what was going through his mind, but only wished for him to say it out loud. When Kylo finally divulged that Grand Admiral Hux had proved difficult for him to understand or read, Snoke seemed unaffected. What confused the Knight of Ren even further was the Supreme Leader’s insistence that he leave the Grand Admiral be and did not press her any further. _“The Grand Admiral is unfalteringly loyal, Kylo. Do not concern yourself with her, as infuriating as it must be for you to not know her every whim and thought,”_ was all Supreme Leader Snoke left Kylo with before ending the transmission. Yet again, Kylo could feel the anger boiling within him at the fact the woman had been so unyielding with him. Surely, she had a breaking point. She had fears. She had things that would break her down. Despite the Supreme Leader imploring him to leave her be, his mind was consumed with getting to the root of the woman and what made her so special as to be undetectable by him.

Before leaving his chambers, he shot one last look at door that shielded his grandfather’s helmet from view. Vaguely, he wondered if Grand Admiral Imogen Hux made him angry enough, would he be allowed to add her ashes to the ones that cradled the relic he kept watch over? While her undetectability and lack of emotions did not outright make her an enemy of his, she still infuriated him and baffled him in even measure. If the Supreme Leader said to leave her be, he would honor his ultimate decision…for now at least. Drawing in a deep breath of air through the respirator of his mask, he strode out of his personal chambers. As the airlock doors shut behind him, he searched the ship for General Hux, extending his power over the Force to each end of the ship as if he would be able to detect Grand Admiral Hux by default.

He wasn’t surprised when he found no traces of Grand Admiral Hux on the ship, but knew that General Hux was on the bridge, where he typically resided during normal operations. Kylo immediately set out in that direction, wondering if the General’s sister would be at his side or if she would be overseeing the TIE fighter squadrons stationed upon the _Finalizer_. Would they be discussing their plans for the Starkiller Base out in the open, where anyone could hear? Or would she merely play shadow to the General, perhaps to critique him on how he governed the ship or to provide insight on how she ran her own battlecruiser. 

As he approached the bridge tower, officers went to scattering around him, making sure they were not in his path. He was not particularly walking fast, but with purpose. Those who had gotten in his way ignorantly the first few times had come to regret it until he was widely spread to give the Knight of Ren his space. Before he reached the bridge doors, he strained his ears, using the Force to amplify his hearing. When he was met with silence on the other side of the door, he just assumed that Grand Admiral Hux was not on bridge and entered the command center of the ship. He wasn’t surprised when he saw General Hux on the raised platform bisecting the command center into equal halves, but he was when he saw Grand Admiral Hux amongst the data pits, walking amongst the personnel keeping close watch on the ships functions and making sure the _Finalizer_ ran smoothly.

The attention naturally found Kylo as he stepped into the room as he approached General Hux, who had turned to face the apprentice of Snoke. He held a datapad in one hand as he struck a salute and with a nod Kylo let him stand at ease. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the General’s twin shooting a look over in their direction before inspecting a display before her.

“General Hux,” Kylo started, dividing his attention between the Hux officials in the bridge. “The Supreme Leader would like to speak with us about plans for the weapon.” Recognition flashed in the General’s eyes, knowing exactly what the Knight of Ren was speaking secretively about. 

“I see. Did the Supreme Leader say when he would like to have this discussion?” General Hux questioned quietly, gaze flickering over to his sister for a brief moment.

“The Supreme Leader will be in contact to inform you of the time,” Kylo Ren replied, voice even as he watched the Grand Admiral look down at her own datapad and type something in. Her gloved fingers danced across the display screen and she even dared to occasionally glance up to the bridge display she was looking over as she typed. Her hand stopped abruptly and lowered the datapad to her side. In an instant, the General’s datapad chimed quietly with the indication of a received notification. Kylo kept his gaze on the General at this time, to see if he would check the message he’d just received or keep his attention on him.

“And did he mention the Grand Admiral joining us?” The General continued. Kylo Ren turn his head to better look at the woman in white, who seemed to be pointing out a few lines of data to the personnel seated in front of the display and not paying much attention to the General or him, before returning his gaze to the younger Hux sibling.

“I’m sure he’ll let her know if he wishes for her to attend,” Kylo stated, keeping his tone even. There were a few beats of silence as the two gazed out over the bridge tower, taking in the personnel that were dutifully working to maintain the ship. In the that time of silence, the General checked his datapad, eyes scanning over the notification before he began typing what Kylo Ren assumed was a reply. Soon enough, he was dropped the datapad to his side once more and somewhere in the room the Grand Admiral’s datapad chimed softly with the receipt of a message. So, they were talking to each other over datapad message, but what were they talking about?

Kylo’s gaze shifted between the two, hidden beneath the visor of his helmet. The Grand Admiral eventually glanced down at her datapad, quickly typing in a reply before sending it. The General’s datapad chimed softly again and Kylo turned his head to completely look at the man, as if daring him to type in a reply instead of giving him undivided attention. The General shot him a sidelong look, brows lifted curiously before turning his gaze to the control center of the _Finalizer_. The Knight kept his gaze on the red-headed general, unaware of the Grand Admiral coming up beside him.

“Knight of Ren,” she spoke, causing him to turn and gaze at her. She was wearing one of those odd little smiles again; the ones that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “So glad to see you on the bridge.” The black-cloaked figure remained silent, searching for a hidden meaning in what she was saying, but failing to find any clear one. Perhaps she did not expect someone like him to take interest in the processes of a ship, to oversee like her or her brother did. Her datapad had been tucked away out of sight. The General was watching the two of them closely, hesitantly, and Kylo could tell he was silently pleading with his sister to mind what she said. "I've tried to stay out of the General's way on the bridge as much as I possibly can. It's a task that's proving difficult, since this bridge is almost identical to the one on the _Absolution_ and it's almost habit for me to fall into command. I can tell he's not too keen on my presence, though."

“It’s… _different_ having you here, Grand Admiral.”

“Shame you feel that way,” the female twin replied. “It’s quite feels like we’re back in Battlecruiser simulation or training.” General Hux grew quiet as she said this, eyes remaining on the lowered floors on either side of them. Grand Admiral Hux’s gaze was out the viewports, hands clasped and arms relaxed behind her back. Kylo noted the Hux twins were making a point to look at anywhere but the other as they spoke and their voices had dropped to hushed tones, so that only the three of them could hear what was being said. The Knight of Ren imagined this was something that happened frequently between the two of them when together. “Though…if it bothers you enough that I’m here, I can take my leave. Stars know, I have enough to do elsewhere.” She was using that tone again—the one that so easily could be misconstrued as a biting comment. It was as if she was implying General Hux did nothing.

“No. No need to leave,” the General replied quickly and quietly, gaze lingering on one particular display before moving to another. “We may not get the chance to watch over a bridge together like this again.” The General was using the same tone now; a metaphorical baring of his teeth, biting back, and proving he was not to be batted around. Kylo found the exchange fascinating, albeit a little ill-timed and not in the best of locations. The two seemed to butt heads frequently, but knew they had to keep a certain amount of retrain to their arguments. For all his bravado, however, there was that spike of fear from the General and uncertainty on how the Grand Admiral would react. The Grand Admiral was a void beside him, infuriatingly undetectable.

Instead of replying, the Grand Admiral merely leaned forward to look past Kylo Ren to focus her dead gaze on the General. The male twin merely stared forward keeping up with his duties, as if he wasn’t aware of the look his sister was shooting him. However, the longer the Grand Admiral’s gaze was on the General, the more he could tell he was getting uncomfortable; he was making a clear point to look at the opposite side of the room, as if he were afraid of even feigning like he would lock eyes with his sister. Finally, just when Kylo though the atmosphere had grown to a crescendo and something was going to happen, the Grand Admiral broke her stare and leaned back with a short, sharp little hum and a purse of her lips. 

From this point on, the two resorted to looking in any direction than the one the other was in. It would have been comical, Kylo decided, if it wasn’t so unprofessional.

“I would suggest you both end your bickering and return to work,” Kylo reminded them sharply; his low, mechanical voice causing a few of the personnel in the room to shoot worried glances in the direction of the catwalk of the bridge. The twins turned to look at him in tandem; had Kylo been a shakable kind of man, he would have been unnerved by two eerily alike sets of eyes landing on him at the same time. General Hux, however, was staring up at him with trepidation. Grand Admiral Hux was observing him blankly, per the usual for her. As if in challenge, Kylo Ren turned to look over at her, before his body followed suit, facing her completely with his hands in fists at his sides. The Grand Admiral mimicked the stance, though her posture was far more relaxed than his as she held his gaze as much as she could with a being in a mask. Though she could not lock eyes with him, he felt as though those icy blue eyes were burning restlessly into his.

Then, to his surprise, he heard a thought; a single thought with no discernible emotion attached to it. Surely, with her knowledge of his power and of Force-adepts in general, she would have known he could hear her. Perhaps she wanted him to.

_“You may scare my brother,”_ her voice whispered across his mind, _“but you do not scare me.”_ The woman abruptly broke her gaze before turning and striding forward on the bridge to hover by a starboard stern weapons display and the young man attending it.

Violent rage bubbled within the Knight of Ren and he grit his teeth together hard as stared darkly at her back. How dare she? How dare she boldly and blatantly disrespect him? And to have that thought be the only one that had broken through to him? Kylo was seeing vivid red and he was determined to make an example of this woman, her past warnings and order from the Supreme Leader forgotten—he would make this woman fear him. Who was the Grand Admiral of the First Order to the Master of the Knights of Ren?

He lifted a hand, preparing to focus all his wrath at the infuriating woman in white as he stepped forward slightly from the General. He noted the male twin shooting wary glances to his back, fear bubbling within him as he glanced between Kylo’s hand and his sister. The Knight of Ren could almost hear it, the warning cry for the Grand Admiral lodged in the General’s throat, but it never broke past. But before Kylo had the chance to bring the woman to her knees, to make her feel like he was strangling the life from her or that her insides were collapsing in on themselves, a cry from the left side of the room broke through all thoughts he had of harming the woman.

“General, Resistance cargo and escort frigates have been detected port-side.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit lengthier than I'd like normal chapters to be, but no where I tried to stop felt natural. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'd love to hear any thoughts on who the Grand Admiral may be or why she's so different. Until next week, my friends!


	4. Words Like Violence

_"_ **Words like violence**   


Break the silence  


Come crashing in  


Into my little world  


Painful to me  


Pierce right through me  


Can't you understand..."  


- _Enjoy the Silence_ , Depeche Mode

At this announcement, the bridge flew into a flurry of action and movement. Alarms were raised over the ship as eyes in the data pits were focused intently on the screen in front of them. It wasn’t often the First Order ran into a Resistance ship, with them being so few and typically moving inconspicuously. While both Resistance ships were no match for the Finalizer, the First Order would spar nothing to take out any Resistance ships, specifically a cargo frigate. 

The Grand Admiral was at the main panel at the front of the room in a flash, her hat wretched from the top of her head in an instant and thrown to the floor and her gloves joined it soon thereafter. “Move,” the woman barked cooly to a lower-ranked officer, who looked all-too eager to back away from her.

****

“Grand Admiral, what _are_ you doing?” The General called, looking appalled by her lack of decorum and overtaking of a panel. The woman shot a look over her shoulder at the General.

****

“My job, General,” she retorted bluntly before returning her gaze out the viewport in front of her, trying to spot a glimpse of the ships in question. “I need full navigational capabilities transferred to this panel,” she commanded. There was a pause where a few personnel stared over at her, gobsmacked at the request of the Grand Admiral. A few even ventured to look to the General to approval. The Grand Admiral paid them no mind, leaning forward as she pressed a button on the panel and spoke into a com-link. “Dispatch the TIE/fo wing for now. Flank the escort frigate first, but take any possible shots at the cargo ship.” When she pulled away, her gaze flickered over the unlit panel before her, the dead displays and she drew in a deep breath of air through her nose, eyes widening. “Controls, _now_ ,” she snapped as the panel blinked to life before her not too long after she spoke.

Without hesitance, her fingers danced over the switches and buttons, gaze flickering between the panel, the radar display that shows the large ships to their left, and the expansive viewport before her. The Knight of Ren divided his gaze between the Hux twins; one who looked like he was about to explode with rage and the other who looked like she was too submerged in taking down Resistance ships to care. The anger Kylo had been feeling toward the Grand Admiral had not dissipated, but he knew the threat of Resistance ships was more important. And there was this underlying curiosity at how well the Grand Admiral would handle this situation.

Surely, the woman must have had some remarkable talent to be where she was. As it was, it seemed she was only good at barking orders and infuriating him. Some petulant part of him liked to see the General getting so angry, so he’d let his wrath lie low for the time being.

A voice buzzed through the com-link in front of the Grand Admiral’s panel and she leaned forward once more. “No, I don’t think this is a trap,” she spoke, eyes drifting quickly over the panel. “Either they’ve just come out of hyperdrive or they’re about to go into it. Do **not** allow them to leave here in one piece.” The General’s hands were clenched into fists at his sides, staring darkly at his twin’s back with a dark look in his eyes. Kylo knew she had stepped on his toes by taking command like she had, trampled on what Kylo could only assume was a fragile ego. It was as if she were back on the ship she had command over with no regards to the General’s higher rank.

“General,” Kylo finally spoke, trying to break the man from his thoughts and jump-start him into what he needed to do to eliminate the Resistance. Grand Admiral Hux glanced over her shoulder at the two for a moment, eyes darting between her twin and the Knight of Ren before her gaze rounded on the panel before her. 

“Permission to aim the bow towards the frigates, General,” Grand Admiral Hux spoke loud and clear, hands hovering over a few buttons and switches. Her asking permission seemed to jolt General Hux out of his angered fog and he regained his authoritative posture, hands clasped behind his back.

****

“Proceed,” he replied quickly. The idea was smart, Kylo noted. It provided less of a target for the Resistance frigates to aim at and allowed the Finalizer to utilize it’s full weaponry, both port and starboard side, to aide in the fight. The woman’s fingers danced across the panel once more, fluidly drifting over the controls she needed to. Not too long after, there was a slightly detectable shift in the ship’s movement, though the internal stabilizers helped cancel the G-forces. As quickly as a large ship like the _Finalizer_ could move, it rounded on the frigates until they were both in sight. The bridge watched with bated breath as the TIE/fo fighters left the battlecruiser to swarm the frigates and battle what limited X-wings must’ve been on the escort frigate.

****

“Permission to aim at the frigates, General,” the Grand Admiral asked, shooting a look over her shoulder.

****

The twins shared a look at this request; to any one else, it would have meant nothing, but it held a significance with Kylo. Within their locked gaze, there was a mutual agreement to destroy the Resistance. Flashes of violent memories from the General’s childhood reached Kylo—the man was projecting loudly whether he knew it or not. A toddler-aged Imogen was grasping his hand tightly as they followed behind a man with red hair in an officer’s uniform and another man in plated armor and blaster in hand. Booming noises were rattling the walls around him as they fled to some unknown safety. The red-haired man murmured something about the “New Republic artillery” before shooting a warning glare to the two children; hushing the younger boy with a hard stare. 

****

_This_ must be where the Hux twins derive their motivation from. Experiencing something like a siege or attack at such a young age was bound to leave its scars behind, wounds that left nothing but revenge-driven thoughts of retaliating. Kylo couldn’t blame them. The toddler-aged General had seemed shaken by the events, but from what he’d seen, the young Grand Admiral seemed as calm as she always had.

****

The General nodded once, not necessarily agreeing with what she had requested, but silently letting her know they were still fighting on the same side.

****

“Aim, but do not fire. Let the TIE wing do their work,” he ordered. The Grand Admiral stared at him, unreadable as ever.

****

“Sir, if we do not provide them some form of cover fire, they’ll be too exposed to however many X-wings they have in the escort,” the woman rebutted and the two of them locked in a stare, but this time it was one of a battle for dominance again. The Grand Admiral made a good point, but the General was in charge of the ship and she knew she had to obey his orders. 

****

“No. No cover fire. Just aim and be ready,” he said, shaking his head for a moment before turning his attention elsewhere. The Grand Admiral stared at him blankly for a few moments, almost as though she wanted to go against his wishes, but seemingly thought against is.

****

“Yes sir,” she responded through tight lips and teeth. She turned back to the panel, bright eyes scanning the readings, lights and switches quickly. “All turrets lock targets on the escort,” she called to the bridge, “all laser and ion cannons divide between both ships. Do not fire until my command.” Her gaze lifted from the panel in front of her to the massive viewport to watch as X-wings joined the swarm and fired upon the TIE/fo already dancing through expanse around both frigates. The General peered over her shoulder from his spot a few strides behind her and Ren did not move from his spot. The woman drew in a deep breath of air, held it for a moment, and then let it go.

****

****

___________________________________________________ 

The First Order personnel on the bridge watched as the irreparably damaged systems of the Resistance cargo frigate imploded on themselves and sent pieces of ship and debris outward from where the ship once was. It was far enough that it didn’t pose a threat to the _Finalizer_ , so the Grand Admiral did not move. A sense of quiet victory fell upon the bridge as most of the personnel shared small smiles and sent hushed congratulations amongst themselves. The General looked pleased with the results as well, gazing as fondly as he could amongst the data pits at his crew.

The Grand Admiral was the only one who looked sour, heels of her palms resting against the edge of the panel as she leaned against it, head bowed slightly. Kylo Ren noted how she stared blankly at the viewport before breaking her stare altogether. She leaned down to the comm-link on the panel and asked, “Is this report I’m seeing correct?” A crackling reply from the panel had her fists slipping suddenly from the panel to clench at her sides. She took a step back, drawing in a deep, measured breath of air before leaning down to collect her hat and gloves. The hat found a home on her head, but the gloves remained off before she turned and started out of the bridge.

****

“Where are you going, Grand Admiral?” The General asked the woman. Her expression was tense and it was apparent that she did not wish to be spoken to. Her eyes turned to him and Kylo could have sworn he almost felt it, the slow acidic burn of anger surrounding her, but it was gone before he could decide if it was her or some other inhabitant of the room.

****

“Only three TIE/fo vehicles made it back,” her voice was low and even, bordering on robotic as her eyes locked on him. “Two of which were severely damaged and the pilots will be out for a few days, if not a week or so.” The General looked at a loss of words at what she was saying, the gravity of their victory sinking in. “Tell me, General,” there was an unmistakable edge of venom in her tone, “how many TIE vehicles are in a wing?”

****

“Twenty-four.”

****

“Twenty-four,” the woman repeated, voice hollow and unfeeling, though her presumed anger was evident in her tone. The General merely stared at her and Kylo knew he was afraid of where her thought process was leading. “That’s a 75% percent loss and potentially more should the two pilots in the med-bay not make it. Do you know if the _Finalizer_ has twenty-one replacement TIE/fo pilots waiting? When we can get replacement vehicles shipped?”

****

“They will have to be chosen from waiting candidates,” the General replied evenly. “As for the TIE fighters themselves, we will be able to get another shipment of vehicles in about three to four days, should we request them now.” The Grand Admiral nodded, already knowing this, but wanting to hear it from him. By now, the attention of the room was shifting between the panels and displays keeping the ship running and the two red-headed, high-ranking officials that were conversing. 

****

“I pray there won’t be a ‘next time’ for the length of my stay on the _Finalizer_ , General Hux, but if there is, you’ll grant me cover fire. The women and men of the First Order…they’re not expendable. They’re not infinite. When we rush them all to unnecessary and unneeded deaths, who will fight for us? If we run into Resistance ships again, shall we burn through the TIE/sf pilots and ships too?” She posed the question, not intending it to be answered. Silence lingered between the two of them before the Grand Admiral continued. “It seems that some tend to forget certain facts as these in the face of victory.” This statement was directed at the General and it hung in the air heavily. The room hushed even more around the two of them. Anger was roiling around the room again, Kylo could feel it, and flushes of bright red color spotted to the General’s cheeks as he stared ahead at the Grand Admiral. The woman merely stared back at him and, again, Kylo was drawn hopelessly to watching the exchange. To see if this conversation would reveal more about the woman that was destined to be the thorn in his side.

****

“Remember your place, Grand Admiral,” the General finally hissed, teeth grinding together and eyes blazing angrily. The woman drew in a deep breath of air, drawing herself up to her full height and leveling her chin before speaking. She was bold, talking to her superior this way, but it was clear to Kylo she was willing to stand up for herself so she would not be trampled underfoot.

****

“And you should remember yours, General,” she replied calmly, eyes cutting into his. “I am the Grand Admiral for a reason.” She dropped her voice to that only the Knight of Ren and the General could hear as she continued speaking. The General opened his mouth to retort, but the woman quickly kept talking, so he never got the chance. “This may be your ship. These may be your personnel, but the Navy and all its resources are _mine_.” She strode past the two who remained on the catwalk of the bridge without a backwards glance.

****

Kylo’s gaze followed her from behind the visor as white-hot anger rolled off of the General in waves, rivaling the own that was bubbling up in himself once again at Grand Admiral Imogen Hux. The woman was quickly becoming more of a distraction, more of a hinderance to their cause and mission on this ship, than a benefit. Perhaps, Kylo thought, again forgetting the warnings of the Supreme Leader and the woman in question, that she needed to be taught her place amongst the First Order and on this ship.

****

****

___________________________________________________ 

The Knight of Ren managed to fit in a meal after lingering in the bridge for a few moments longer. There was a part of him that relished seeing the General so irritated—pleased that was directed at himself or other officers for once. He figured it would only be a matter of time before two of the unsaid “triumvirate” turned on the Grand Admiral. Starkiller Base project or not, the woman’s presence was unwanted on the _Finalizer_. After his meal, he took to overseeing the operations on the battlecruiser, as per his usual activities. The fervor from the earlier fight had not died down and there was an anxious sort of energy flittering amongst the crew.

As he was passing through the labyrinth of corridors on the lower levels, he picked up an energy—a great ripple through the Force—on the upper levels of the ship. It wasn’t anything he recognized and he was sure it was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. The presence was heavy, foreboding, and full of wrath. It was violent, chaotic, and he could almost feel the burn of the embers from it on his skin and taste the ashes in his mouth. It was calling to him - _rip, tear, bleed, burn, eviscerate, exterminate, kill. Kill. Kill._ He spun on heel and took wide, long strides toward the nearest lift. His connection to the Force allowed him connection to every presence of the ship and even those outside it, if he focused enough. He knew the typical energies that lingered on the ship and this was not anything he’d ever detected. Maybe it was morbid curiosity, his need to find the source of this anger, or maybe he wanted to face down the source of it—expel some of the anger he had kept bottled in for far too long.

****

When he reached the doors to the lift, he jammed the button frantically, uncharacteristically anxious. The doors slid open and he swooped in, immediately jamming the button to the floor he knew the presence to be on and willing the doors shut behind him. The normally quick journey to the upper levels seemed to drag on, floors flying by and he had to resist the temptation to use the Force to urge the elevator onward and upward. _Kill. Kill. Kill._ His hands clenched into fists at his sides and he drew in a deep breath of air, the sound of it hissing through his vocoder. The doors opened, finally, and he charged out of the lift, barreling past a few junior officers that looked terrified to see the Knight of Ren making haste. _Burn. Eviscerate. Exterminate._ He pressed on even faster, cloak whipping out behind him with the speed he moved. 

****

He turned a corner and approached a storage room, noting the doors were locked open and a few spare circuit boards had been flung across the hallway opposite of the storage room. The lay in fragmented pieces and the hallway laid empty. The anger was nearly suffocating him now, wrapping it’s fingers around his throat and squeezing—causing him to slow his There was the sound of a repetitive sort of hammering coming from the room, the sound of it quick and staccato, and the occasional grunt of air rattling in lungs, sticking in a throat. Vaguely, he pondered if this is what he sounded like when he took out his aggression on the object around him. Still, his hand inched toward his lightsaber, knowing the venomous wrath that was seeping out of that room was nothing good.

****

Then, as if the presence inside knew it had been discovered, it vanished abruptly and the pounding within the room came to a halt. The air around him went still and he mimicked it, eyes trained on the open entryway of the room. There were a few quiet moments where nothing was happening before the sound of footsteps began to lead from a far corner of the storage room toward the door. The foot falls were slow, but rhythmic, and Kylo could hear the crunch of metal and plexiglass beneath the rubberized soles. As the footsteps neared, Kylo’s hand twitched closer to the weapon, his only weapon, that hung from his belt. When the single being in the room exited, he felt both a sense of surprise, but with how things had been, it really wasn’t a surprise at all.

****

The Grand Admiral looked the most out of sorts Kylo had ever seen a high-ranking official. Her hat was gone and a few strands of long, red hair had fallen from the tight containment at the base of her neck to frame her face. Her chest was rising and falling quickly, like she’d just been running. Her eyes had a sort crazed look to them or something vastly different to them than just the normal dead stare the held. However, there was something else that was throwing Kylo off, making her wary of her beyond the fact he somehow felt all along that she was the cause of the seething presence he’d felt. Blood was splattered against her cheek, across her parted lips, down her white uniform, and splattered across the knuckles of both of her hands. In fact, the knuckles had been ripped and torn open and blood was freely trickling from the wounds. Her hands were still at her sides, blood dripping from the open, sliced skin. Kylo figured she had been taking her anger out on the inanimate objects of the storage room behind her, destroying First Order property with her fists as he was so apt to doing with his saber or telekinetic powers.

****

She was staring at the wall in front of her, but Kylo knew she knew he was right there watching her. They sat in silence for some time, the only sound being a few Stormtroopers turning the corner only to immediately about-face upon seeing the two of them. The Knight noted the blood dripping on the floor beside her feet and, he wasn’t sure what had possessed him to say this, but he said it regardless.

****

“Grand Admiral, you’re dripping blood everywhere,” he remarked. Her eyes flashed to his visor and she drew in a sharp breath of air, as if whatever trance she had been in had been broken by his voice. Her head snapped in his direction and she took a step toward him, closing the distance between the two of them so that she had to tilt her head back slightly to properly look at him. Both sets of hands clenched into fists at their sides. Her expression was tense, eyes boring into the visor of his helmet. Suddenly, a smirk curled her features as she lifted her hand to just beside her cheek, displaying her self-inflicted wounds for him to see. 

****

“What? _This blood_?” She questioned before swiping her fingertips up the blood that had started to run down the back of her hand. Her hand was at the void where a mouthpiece would have been on his helmet in an instant, swiping her blood against it. Before Kylo had a chance to react, he blinked and she was standing back just outside the door, watching him closely. What the hell was going on? Surely, she was the reason why he kept having these lapses; thinking he was seeing something and then…not. These bends in reality, though he had only witnessed two of them, were getting tiring.

****

He lifted a hand to the place on his helmet where she had just touched and looked down at his gloved fingertips, swiping his thumb against them to find his fingers dry and free of blood. Kylo could have sworn he could have smelled the metallic tinge of it too. He looked over to her to find the Grand Admiral was still looking at him, expression still tense and eyes still lifeless. 

****

Suddenly, the anger that had been suppressed within him bubbled and boiled over. Lifting his hand, he shoved her back against the wall behind her using the Force with a loud thump, jarring her so much that her head snapped forward a bit. He wrapped the tendrils of his power around her throat, intent on squeezing the life from the woman. Her hands flew to her throat, but her features remained calm, eyes as dead as ever. Kylo lifted her from the ground, feel dangling a few feet from the floor and long, red hair coming loose from it’s bun as he dragged her up the wall.

****

“This illusion or whatever it is that you keep doing ends now,” he growled to her, listening to her gasp and fight to breathe in air. “ _You_ end now,” he continued, shaking with the fiery rage that had control over him. Her gaze remained on him, bloodied hands smearing under her jaw and against the white collar of her uniform as she vainly fought against the Force pressing against her throat. That spike of violent anger was rising within her again—he could feel it—filling the void that her presence usually left. She was staring at him with a certain amount of venom in her gaze, body trembling beneath the grip of his power. He was vaguely aware of the sound of plated armor clanking together and the rubberized soles of boots striding toward the two of them, but the tunnel vision of his wrath allowed him to ignore them. The Stormtroopers must’ve reported the two of them to their higher up.

****

“Sir,” the unwelcome, respirator-altered voice of Captain Phasma was at his side, speaking calmly and plainly, “that is the Grand Admiral of the First Order. I would highly suggest you put her down.” Kylo’s head snapped in the chromium Stormtrooper’s direction, tightening the grasp of his power around the woman in white’s throat. A louder, raspy gasp of air left her as her head tilted back slightly, as if to alleviate the pressure around her throat. “Sir,” Captain Phasma pressed again, as if trying to remind him of the status of the woman he’d thrown against the wall. Kylo knew the Captain wouldn’t do anything, while she was obedient to the cause, the woman was not about to get in-between any of his victims and his wrath. She had a sense of self-preservation that was too great. 

****

Finally, the message from Snoke rang through his mind; the warning to leave her be, reminding him of her loyalty to the cause. He let her drop abruptly, not caring if she crumpled to the floor or not. Surprisingly, the woman landed on her feet agilely, but almost immediately doubled over to gasp in much needed air. The Knight of Ren watched and relished the flush of pinkish-red color at her cheeks, the tinge of blue and purple around her lips, and the smears of new blood on her face and uniform. He may not have killed her, but seeing her like this pleased him. The Captain took a step toward her, as if to check on her well-being, but the Grand Admiral merely held up a bloodied hand that had the Captain stopping. Kylo could only imagine what this looked like from the outside; her messy appearance and his anger. The Captain was almost as good as the Grand Admiral at hiding her thoughts and keeping them from projecting, but still had some form of presence the other lacked—this occasion was no different. 

****

The Grand Admiral stood still until she caught her breath and she straightened up, striking a stance that was almost at attention: arms straight at her sides, chin level to the floor, and feet together. Her chest was still rising and falling quickly and her gaze found Kylo sharply. She stood and stared at him for a few long moments and he remained unmoved, hands in fists at his sides and shoulders squared with her. She was still seething—the monster that was the anger that had drawn him here in the first place was lingering in the shadows, pacing anxiously for a chance to pounce. _Rip. Tear. Bleed._ But then, as if she had thought against it, it was gone and the void that was the Grand Admiral was back. 

****

Without another word, she swept past him with great speed, her long, bright red hair whipping behind her as she went. Phasma stayed for a moment or two longer before turning and marching in the opposite direction. Kylo merely stared after the redhead, a particular sort of smell washing over him in his stead; the smell of fresh rain and freshly crushed flower petals. With a sharp exhale, he turned on heel and strode away from the mess of a storage room, anger abated for the time being.

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the lack of update last week, so I hope this long update makes up for it. Things are getting interesting, no?
> 
> Do you all prefer the longer updates or would you rather see me break the chapters down a bit more?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed and I hope I've left you all even more confused than ever...for now!


	5. Born to Hate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: A tad bit risque and violent content ahead.

_"Where will I meet my fate?_

_Baby I'm a man, I was **born to hate**_

_And when will I meet my end?_

_In a better time you could be my friend."_

- _A Bad Dream_ , Keane

 

“Please take a seat, Ren,” the Grand Admiral spoke in that even, nearly robotic tone from her desk. Kylo had just entered the room and she hadn’t even looked up to ensure that it was him. So, the time for flattering titles had come to an end. Not twenty minutes had passed since their encounter and he’d received a summons from the woman on his datapad: _’Come to my office. We clearly have much to discuss.’_ The woman was either incredibly brave or extremely stupid to invite someone into her office who had just tried to kill her. Ren decided he’d entertain her, the warning from the Supreme Leader emblazoned at the forefront of his mind. Maybe, this time, he’d take her up on the offer to freely probe her mind—to find the answers he did not easily receive from her.

Slowly, he stepped over to her desk and lowered himself into the seat, eyes glancing over the contents of the desk that had been so immaculate the last time he’d been in the room. A few datapads were stacked neatly on one side, a glass of light amber liquid with rounded ice was within reach and perched upon a simple stone coaster, and the remnants of a meal sat on a plate near one side of the desk. A leather-bound book was directly in front of her, lines of finely-struck script neatly lining the pages. Names, Kylo could see after looking closer. Her head not once picked up from the book as the fountain-tip pen in her hand slowly and carefully wrote down the last name. Kylo found himself momentarily entranced by the grace with which her gloved hand moved, the fluid, beautiful lines that it was leaving behind. An archaic art form, most would presume it extinct, but Kylo was fascinated by it and dabbled in it when time permitted.

“You write their names?” He questioned suddenly, realizing that the more recent entries were those names of the pilots that had fallen in their mission to destroy the Resistance frigates they had encountered earlier. Quiet music was playing from one of the datapads beside them, something more tonal and electronically created than Kylo was used to. 

“Yes,” she answered softly, almost distractedly as she focused on the last name as the ink dried, pen hovering above the page.

“You mourn them?” He continued and her eyes flickered up to meet his. She looked tired, but was otherwise characteristically unreadable. Without tearing her eyes away from him, she set the pen to the side and shut the book softly.

“If I don’t, no one else will,” she said, voice as quiet as ever as she folded her hands and rested them atop the book. “The individuals that report to me complete important tasks everyday, battle or no battle. When the time comes, the sacrifices they make should not go unnoticed.”

“Too little, too late if it goes unnoticed until they’ve died,” Kylo pressed, gaze still on the woman in front of him. Her lips pursed for a moment, eyes flashing, but there was no hint of emotion from her.

“Perhaps,” she replied evenly, appearing unruffled by his statement. “I try to at least let the ones I’m in contact with know I appreciate their time and dedication. The First Order would not survive without those who serve it.” Kylo kept his gaze on her as she spoke, noting the fresh red and purple bruises peeking out from the high collar of her officer’s jacket. Otherwise, she was as immaculate as ever, appearing to have changed her uniform from the bloodied one she had been in earlier, restyling her hair, and donning a pair of black gloves. The sight of the bruises pleased him for some sick reason and gave him the inclination to press her even further.

“You do it for your own gratification, not for their’s.” The Grand Admiral merely stared at him, eyes burning into the visor of his helmet for a beat or two. The music she was listening to the only sound in the room.

“A matter of opinion, Ren,” she retorted, a slight bite to her tone. She drew in a deep breath of air, her petite nostrils flaring slightly, before letting out a heavy sigh and leaning back in her chair. “This is not why I called you here,” she said, shaking her head as she grabbed a datapad and typed a few lines onto the screen. Kylo heard the mechanics of the door behind him whirring and a loud click as it locked shut and the music she had been listening to ceased. “There. The door’s locked and no one can interrupt you,” she continued, placing the datapad aside as her cool gaze found his once more. “If you care to continue on with what you had intended on doing earlier, do it.”

Kylo merely stared at her; her posture was so relaxed, at ease. She really wasn’t afraid of him in the slightest, not even after he’d had her pinned against the wall and attempted to squeeze the life out of her. She remained quiet, fingers reaching out and grasping the glass of liquor and taking a hearty sip of it.

“You’re a fool,” Kylo spat, the insult coming out harsh and hissing through his vocoder.

“Again, a matter of opinion, Ren,” she replied without missing a beat. She merely stared at him for a moment or two longer, waiting for him to make a move. When it seemed he had no intention of continuing, she drew in a deep breath of air and stood, circling around the desk and leaning back against the front of it. She crossed her legs at the ankles, glass still perched between her fingertips. Kylo tensed slightly, knowing the last time he was in such close proximity—or at least though he was—she had smeared blood on him. “Okay. If you still don’t wish to kill me, I deserve to know why I was targeted by you today, at least,” she said, the bite still in her tone. His visor was set directly on her, hands resting on his thighs as she took a sip of the liquid in her glass. 

Should he tell her what was happening? What if she wasn’t the cause behind it and he unjustly was taking it out on her? But if she was the cause of it, what would she do if she knew he was onto her sick little games? Would it be better to lie, to give her part of the truth, or all of the truth?

“And don’t think of lying to me either,” she continued, gaze flickering around the room as she set the glass aside and crossing her arms over her chest. He tilted his head to the side as she spoke, wondering where she got this nerve from. “I may not be a Force-user like you, but I can tell when people lie to me.”

Kylo stared up at her, noticing her unfaltering expression and nearly unmoving presence. It was clear that she was not about to let him go without him supplying her an answer. 

“I’m not your subordinate, Grand Admiral,” Kylo spoke and the woman lifted a brow. “You can’t intimidate an answer out of me.” Her eyes remained cold and unfeeling as she let his words sink in as the slightest of crooked grins curled her lips for a moment before vanishing once more. 

“If you think this is me trying to be intimidating, you’re sorely mistaken,” she said, her tone rife with humor. “No, this is me attempting to keep patient. I’ve kept my composure this far, but it’s honestly wearing a bit thin. As a human to…” She paused, her gaze raking over him briefly. “…whatever it is that you are beneath that mask…I deserve an answer as to why you tried to kill me today.” She was so calm—it was beginning to infuriate him. He almost would have preferred her rage, to feel it lurking in the room behind him and radiating from her in blasts of scorching heat. He merely remained silent, staring up at her as he thought through his options. “If you won’t humor me now, try reversing the situation. Wouldn’t you want to have a reason if I had tried to kill you?”

“I owe no one answers for what I do.”

“But I am not a ‘no one’, Ren,” she threw back at him almost instantly, fingers curling over the opposite arm’s biceps a little tighter. She was restraining herself, keeping that anger at bay. He merely scoffed and looked away from her, shaking his head at the audacity of the woman before him. The woman tapped her fingers impatiently against her arms, steadfast gaze never leaving him. When she realized that he would not give an answer, she sighed heavily as her gaze flickered over him.

“The Supreme Leader warned you to leave me be, reassured you of my loyalty, did he not?” Kylo’s attention was brought to her sharply, her soft tone and the Coruscanti accented words she spoke causing him to grind his teeth together. A knowing grin curled her lips, the sight of it only infuriating him even more. “What?” She offered softly, her hushed tone almost musical. “You think he only speaks with you and my brother?” She paused for a moment, head tilting slightly to the side. “You forget who I am, Ren.” If looks could have killed and if the Grand Admiral could have seen the look on his face, she would have been cold and lifeless on the floor.

“I hate doing this, because it seems so extraordinarily childish, but you’ve left me with no choice,” she continued, pushing herself up to perch, rather unprofessionally, on the edge of the desk with her palms resting on the top on either side of her thighs. She crossed her long legs, one over the other, at the knee, as she looked down at him. “You tell me why you tried to kill me and I keep it a secret…from everyone who did not witness it,” she spoke, her voice low and drilling as her eyes bored into the visor of Kylo’s helmet. Her patience was at it’s end, it seemed. “You refuse? I tattle to the Supreme Leader,” she delivered her ultimatum emotionlessly, her brightly-colored eyes as unfeeling as ever.

“You can’t keep secrets from him,” Kylo murmured, knowing he would have to face the consequences of his actions at some point. More than likely the following day cycle, when he’d meet with the Supreme Leader.

“No,” Grand Admiral Hux said softly, shaking her head a bit, “but I could…try and diminish the severity of what happened—take the blame for some of it, if you will.”

“You would do that? Lie to the Supreme Leader for an answer from me?”

“It’s simple enough, Ren,” she rebutted, shaking her head slowly. “An answer is all I ask for.” She leaned forward a bit, keeping her gaze on him unfalteringly so. “We have the same goals in the First Order. I am not your enemy and I don’t want to have to make you mine. If we worked together, it’d make the task of eliminating the true enemy so much easier. You realize that, don’t you? What reason have I given you to distrust me so much?”

Kylo remained quiet, staring up at her for a few more moments before looking away. He felt quite like a child that had been caught doing something bad. Something akin to guilt had settled into the pit of his stomach, despite not feeling the slightest bit remorseful for what he’d done to the Grand Admiral. He clenched his jaw together and drew in a deep breath, the sound of it hissing through his vocoder. Finally, his gaze settled on the woman resolutely as she stared at him. Could it hurt to tell her the truth? How severe would his punishment be if he refused to give her an answer? He considered his options for a moment, the possible outcomes of the circumstance he found himself in. Then, there was that tug in his gut. A intuitive sort of guiding that he knew to be the Force trying to sway his direction. His mind rested on one conclusion; he should tell her.

“You…I can’t read you…like I can read the others,” he spoke finally and he cringed at just how uncertain and vulnerable his tone sounded. Slight surprise read across her features as he spoke, as if she hadn’t expected him to answer her. “Its like your presence doesn’t exist. Like there’s a lapse or void where you should be.” Her brow furrowed slightly as she stared at him, clearly losing herself it her own thoughts as she drew in a few slow breaths of air.

“How curious,” she murmured softly. Ren watched her closely for any sort of indication of her previously knowing about this, but was met with a slightly confused, albeit interested expression.

“Would there be any reason that you would know of for this?” Ren questioned, watching her closely. She brushed a hand over her hair, staring off somewhere over his shoulder at nothing in particular as she thought. Her expression smoothed out and she let out a heavy sigh.

“I had an…accident,” she spoke finally, gaze flickering up to his visor and holding his gaze through it as she spoke. She was as emotionless as ever—Kylo was beginning to expect nothing different. “I broke my spine in a few places, shattered a few ribs, and cracked my head open on the hangar bay floor of the _Absolution_ early in my career. The medics didn’t have reason to believe there had been any long lasting trauma at the time.” She paused for a moment, fingers tightening slightly on the edge of the desk. “There _was_ nerve damage; I no longer am susceptible to feeling pain at times, particularly in my arms. And sometimes, the pain I feel is unbearable, but I’ve learned to deal with it. Perhaps…there was some underlying neurological damage beyond this pain that I and the medics were unaware of at the time, and…perhaps this is the reason why you are unable to read me like others.”

Ren stared blankly at her for a few moments, trying to weigh if this was some elaborately conjured lie. It seemed believing enough, but without being able to read her internal thoughts, it gave him great reason to distrust her on the mere premise that she was not like every other officer in the First Order. 

Without a word, he reached out a hand—the silence of the room pressing in on them—and guided the Force from the base of her spine slowly up the column of bone to the back of her skull. Along the way, he felt little healed fissures, places where bone had fused itself together. With every one he hit, he caught flashes of memories that were not his own. _The feeling of flying. Stomach dropping. Sinking. Falling._ He trailed the Force over her ribs, feeling the mended cracks there. _Impact. Crunching of bones. A hollow thud as body met durasteel surface._ He guided the Force back to her spine, continuing back up her vertebrae until he reached the occipital part of her skull. The bone here was fragmented terribly, patched together like a crude, human-bone mosaic. _Red liquid flooded his vision. The scent of copper. Someone yelling in the distance. ‘Immi!’ Boot-steps thudding hard on metal flooring. ‘IMMI!’_ For a moment, he was shrouded with numbness; unable to feel from his fingertips, to his feet, and up to his neck, unable to feel the clothes against his skin or the air rushing in and out of his lungs. _’Best leave her be, Armitage. Your sister is strong, but I doubt she could survive a fall like this. There is weakness in mourning, but particularly those who can't be saved.’_ There was something else in this memory, if he looked further back. The feeling of being grasped by the front of his uniform, a TIE s/f uniform, he realized—and the feeling of being lead to the edge of a balcony and thrust over it.

When he pulled the Force away from her, his focus went back to her and he was surprised by what he saw. Her hands were gripping the desk beside her thighs tightly, her legs were no longer crossed, her spine was rigid and straight, and there was a slight flush of color to her cheeks. Her lips were parted, shaking slightly, as she drew in quick, shaky breaths of air. Something about seeing her like this, Ren liked—to know he was the cause for a break in the woman’s icy exterior, even if the memories he’d unearthed had been anything but pleasant.

“It was no accident, was it?” His question seemed to jar her a bit and she closed her mouth, swallowing hard as she slipped from the desk and circled around it. She drew in a few, deep breaths of air as she smoothed her hands over her uniform, her hair, and turned to face him.

“No,” she replied, voice quiet and thin, “it wasn’t.” She grasped the drink on her desk and downed it in one go. Ren was slightly transfixed by the color at her cheeks, the slight shake in her hands, and the tone of voice she was using. He’d really dug into her a bit and he liked it. When she leveled her gaze on him, he noted the look in her eyes; pupils blown wide and a foreign emotion to Kylo lingering in them. He was perplexed for a moment, eyeing her before getting to his feet—had he been a cause of how disheveled she’d gotten or was it a result of the memories he’d unearthed from her mind?

“I have all I need for now,” he murmured, the look she was given him was setting him uneasy, shifting something inside of him. Her lips had fallen open again as she drew in breaths of air to try and calm herself, and it was everything he could do to not focus on them. 

“I don’t expect your trust immediately, Ren,” she spoke, strength and confidence returning to her tone as quickly as it had left. “But I want you to know that I hide nothing from you willingly.” He locked eyes with her once more, giving her one last, lingering stare before turning on heel and marching from the room. He heard her press her finger against a data pad and the lock on the door disengaged and he left the room without another word.

___________________________________________________

_The Grand Admiral stood at a large window, a dark, snow-covered terrain behind her. She was looking outside, at the snow that whipped around and a sun that was too far away to shed any real light hovered over the horizon. The tall, thin indigenous trees shook and swayed in the winds, shedding the freshly collected snow with every movement it made. Her hands were clasped behind her back as her gaze studied the frozen world around her before turning and stepping back over to a large, circular table in the room. A holo-projection of a lush, green planet hovered at the center of it all, slowly rotating as if it were completing it’s day cycle and starting it’s night. The other lights in the room had been dimmed, to put the focus on the projection._

 _‘Why Chandrila?’ She asked quietly, gesturing to the blue-green planet that hovered before and cast the azure and viridian hues against the white of her uniform._ Kylo knew he was dreaming, that his body and mind was supplying him a deep enough sleep to grant him a dream. It seemed too real, however, too based in real life and fact, and that realization had him on edge. He was prepared to pull himself from sleep in a moment, if the dream turned sour. _Kylo was standing opposite of the Grand Admiral, cowl and cloak forgotten as he leaned over the back of a chair, leering at the planet from beneath his visor._

_‘I don’t have to supply you with any answer, Grand Admiral. Just destroy it,’ he stated bluntly and the woman braced her gloved palms against the table. A pale blonde brow was lifted as she stared at him through the projection, emotionless and unfeeling._

_‘I don’t take orders from you, Ren.’ Anger was crawling up the back of his throat, burning at his insides as she spoke. ‘Decimating one planet with Starkiller seems like its such a waste of power. Why not the whole Chandrila system?’ There was a low, throbbing sort of sound that vibrated the floor beneath them in waves; the weapon was poised and ready, charged and waiting for a target. Kylo stared at her, uncertain of what answer to provide her. Chandrila was his target for the sake of killing off a marker from his past, the place where he grew up and the place he was ripped from to go train with his uncle. He wanted to watch the planet obliterated, the place of his youth, the place that held so many memories of him watching his parents argue and fight, and being left in the care of countless nannies and babysitters when he wanted nothing but to feel like he was wanted._

_‘Just the planet. That’s all we need to destroy,’ he rebutted and the woman merely stared over at him. A gale of wind pressed against the window, showering it with icy shards that hissed against the outside of the structure before it settled again._

_‘No,’ she finally said, shaking her head and turning away from him, starting to step toward the door of the room. With long-legged strides, he cut her exit off, looming like a shadow in front of her. She stared boldly up at him, her features a void of emotion, though maybe she looked a bit expectant, like she was waiting for what was to come next. ‘You can keep me trapped here for as long as you want. We’re not wasting all the energy we’ve stored for a single planet…not without you giving me a good enough reason.’ He charged toward her suddenly and she took quick, responsive steps backwards. Kylo pinned her back against the table, leering over the woman in white. His hands rested on either side of her, pressing her down using his body weight. His chest was flush with hers, towering over her and surpassing over her slender form with his broad one._

_‘Who do you think you are? Denying my requests like this?’ He hissed, the vocoder crackling as he lowered his helmet close to her face. She was unfaltering and unafraid, staring boldly back up at him. He could feel her body pressing back up against his, not completely yielding beneath his strength._

_‘The Grand Admiral of the First Order,’ she replied simply. ‘And the creator of the weapon you’re asking me to use and waste resources on destroying a single planet.’ She blinked a few times as she studied him up close and she leaned forward slightly. ‘Try and intimidate me all you want. I’m still not scared of you,’ she challenged in a low voice. Her hand was at where his mouthpiece would have been on his helmet, gripping it like one would a chin. ‘Why Chandrila?’ She asked in a whisper. Kylo fought to tear his helmet from her grip, but she held tight. He tried to use the Force to pry her away from him, but it was like it was trapped inside his body, never to be used on others again._

By this point, Kylo was trying to wake himself up, to shake himself from this dream in which he was not happy with where the direction was going. There was a sickening sort of pit forming in his stomach when he realized the dream was not letting go and the events within seemed to be taking a turn for the worse.

_A low growl left him—the vocoder he wore causing it to sound more mechanical than anything else and he shook his head in her grasp even more._

_‘Fuck you, I don’t have to tell you why. You said it yourself, you’re beneath my rank, Grand Admiral,’ he said, voice low and seething. Her eyes flashed for a moment at his words, fingertips leaving his mask. Then, unexpectedly, they trailed down the covered expanse of his neck with a feather-light pressure coming to rest on his chest. His gaze narrowed as he looked down at her, watching as a knowing grin curled her lips._

_‘Why Chandrila?’ She continued to press. Kylo continued to stare at her, noting the way her pupils had expanded, filled with a dark sort of energy that was not too unlike the anger he’d felt from her, but something different. For a moment, all was still in the room. He could feel her breathing evenly beneath him, the soft curves and hard edges of bone that made up her form. Her eyes flickered over him slowly, as if she were sizing him up, before her hand continued to drift down his torso. His breath hitched in his throat as she shifted beneath him, one long leg coming up to rest just beside his hip._

_His eyes widened as she shifted again, rubbing against him in a most suggestive sort of ways. A coy little grin twisted at her lips at the feel of a bulge forming against her, eyes glistening slightly in the dim light of the room and the holo-projection floating just beyond the two of them. Just as her hand smoothed down his stomach, he grabbed it by the wrist quickly, his other hand finding her opposite wrist just as fast. He bowed her body back over the table, her other foot leaving the floor as her body shifted with the movement and her head fell back against the surface with a soft thud. Her hair came loose from it’s bun, blood red strands of hair pooling behind her head as she continued to stare up at him with darkened eyes and a knowing grin._

_Kylo leaned over her, body still pressed tightly against hers—which was probably against his best interests—and he could feel her shifting beneath him, stirring feelings within him he’d long kept suppressed. He leveled his helmet with her face, staring down at the woman beneath him. Kylo could almost feel her breath against his bare skin, lips tingling with the need to press them against her skin, against her lips to smother that fucking grin she was wearing. A soft hum left her as her bottom lip found its way between her teeth, her other leg found his other hip, the heels of her boots finding purchase at the edge of the table as his body slid to nearly smother hers beneath it._

_‘Why Chandrila?’ She whispered, eye half-lidded as her hips rocking against his once more—the added leverage from her feet at the table was almost too much for Kylo to handle and he let out a soft groan at the contact, eyes fluttering shut briefly. His mind had gone hazy, torn between making this woman pay for her insolence or ripping the clothes right off of her. She was a temptress, trying to pry an answer from him with her charm, and he found himself wanting to supply her with one—just not what he expected she was looking for._

Kylo fought even harder to rip himself from this dream, disgusted with how the dream version of himself was reacting to the Grand Admiral. No matter how he tried, he seemed imprisoned in his own mind, to merely go along with what was happening in horror. 

_The woman merely stared up at him, eyes drifting over the features of his mask as if she could actually see the one wearing it. Then, suddenly, she was knocking her forehead against the front of his helmet hard, catching him completely off-guard. His head fell back and he let go of her wrists abruptly. Before he had time to recover, she was curling her knees to her chest and thrusting her heels into his stomach to push him away. Kylo groaned in pain as the woman slipped from the desk, doubled over for a moment to catch his breath. The Grand Admiral seemed to be relentless, though, and brought her knee up to catch the underside of the helmet. His neck bent awkwardly with the movement as he fell to his back._

_In a moment, Grand Admiral Hux was straddling him, pinning him to the ground with her weight as she swung her fist to catch one side of his mask with brutal force. In the scramble of it all, amidst the pain radiating through him, he stretched out his hand, intending on using the Force to send her across the room but found that the reaction was similar to before. His power was trapped within him, to his horror, and her other fist slammed into the other side of his helmet. Kylo’s head spun to the side as his vision swam. In an attempt to gain the upper-hand and stop the woman from assaulting him with hammering punches any further, he blindly reached out his hand to wrap his fingers around her wrist. She fought against his grasp, but was no match for his strength._

_‘Don’t forget, Ren, the one who hold true control,’ she ground out through gritted teeth. Before he could reply, her fist was colliding with the side of his helmet again. This time, it hit with enough strength that he could hear the hiss of decompression and feel the latches give way. The helmet spun against his scalp before he felt it being pulled away._

Kylo wrenched himself from the dream and immediately sat up in his bed on the _Finalizer_. His chest was heaving and anger quickly rose within him at how helpless he’d been in the dream. He knew it was just that—a dream—but the contents of it had been infuriating. Tentatively, he pressed his hand to his jaw, as if searching for any damage that had been inflicted by the Grand Admiral, but found that nothing had changed. With a heavy sigh, he limply fell back onto the bed, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes as he tried to expunge the dream from his thoughts. There was a part of him, however small it was, that enjoyed the dream. It had enjoyed the way the dream-version of the Grand Admiral had pressed against his body and had looked up at him through light blonde lashes; like she had wanted him in that moment. Even more staggering was the part of him that enjoyed her fighting him, the feel of her thighs gripping his sides tightly and fists knocking against him, and the strength she wielded against him.

Trusting the Grand Admiral, even in his unconscious mind, would prove to be more difficult than he thought it would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love writing really messed up dream sequences. Maybe it's a reflection of how many weird dreams I end up having. Anyways, what do you think the meaning of the dream was? Why do you think the Grand Admiral had reacted to Ren's perusal of her past the way he did?
> 
> Also, I think this updating every two weeks thing will probably be the norm for a while. I work full-time, have adulting to do, and am doing college work as well. I promise to try and keep the chapters lengthy and the quality juicy!


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